A kiss of joy - French striker Olivier Giroud plants one on teammate Mathieu Debuchy

There's no more emotional way of showing feelings than a kiss - is there?

Well not if you happen to be a football player where kissing a fellow player could be misinterpreted.

After all there's something of a taboo surrounding homosexuality in the so-called Beautiful Game, and although Uefa has thrown its weight behind national campaigns to stamp out homophobia, most would agree there's still a lot of work that needs to be done.

Just last month for example, Uefa was urged to take action over Real Madrid manager José Mourinho's apparent homophobic slur before his side's Champions League match against CSKA Moscow.

But that's all rather an aside to an event that occurred last week during a friendly international between Germany and France.

It concerned the 25-year-old Ligue 1 Montpellier striker Olivier Giroud, making only his third appearance for Les Bleus in a game which would see him score his first international goal.

Giroud netted the ball after another relative newcomer to the team, Mathieu Debuchy a 26-year old midfielder from the current French champions Lille, passed to him.

Olivier Giroud kisses teammate Mathieu Debuchy (screenshot ZDF television)

And what happened next was a clear show of camaraderie and excitement as the two men shared a full-on smacker.

Well from the camera angle it seemed to be more Giroud kissing Debuchy than the other way round.

It was a moment which, while it left the German commentators completely unfazed - as you can tell (if you speak the language) they just kept on talking, wondering how Germany would react...to the goal that is - seems to have plenty of "tongues wagging" on the Net.

Some of the headlines and comments were perhaps only to be expected and included phrases such as "French kissing" (yawn) or "Gay celebration" (even bigger yawn).

But any idea that the gesture was anything other than a complete expression of joy, especially on the part of Giroud, are surely wildly exaggerated.

Kissing another man in France - or in much of mainland Europe come to that - doesn't have the same sort of schoolboy-giggly innuendo it might have in say the United States or Britain.

It's just...well "normal" for want of a better word and definitely acceptable.

No big deal really and quite endearing - n'est-ce pas?

By the way, France won the friendly 2-1.

Friday's French music break - Oldelaf, "La tristitude"

Friday's French music break this week is something just a little different.

It's "La tristitude" by singer-songwriter Olivier Delafosse, who goes under the stage name Oldelaf, and surely puts paid to a couple misconceptions you might have.

Oldelaf (screenshot from "La tristitude")

The first one is that French comedy is defined solely by a seemingly endless number of stand-up acts who should perhaps really try sitting down, impersonators with rather iffy material that raise a smile for five minutes and then leave you looking at your watch for an hour, or those terrible homemade sitcoms which are, in the main, thankfully a thing of the past but can still be caught as reruns if you're unlucky enough to turn on the telly at the wrong time.

Yes Oldelaf, as well as being a musician is also a humourist - a funny one - with quick wit and a clever pen as demonstrated in "La tristude" - more on that in a moment.

Another false impression that's put to rest is the one that perhaps French TV host Michel Drucker is only capable of a "polite and toned down" approach to his guests during his (many) years of hosting shows and in particular since 1998 his weekly Sunday afternoon programme, "Vivement Dimanche".

The link between the two?

Well, Drucker also currently has a daily mid-morning programme on Europe 1 radio, "Faites entrer l'invité", in which he invites a guest and, along with his fellow contributors (Faustine Bollaert, Jérôme Commandeur, Mathieu Madénian, Matthieu Noël, Willy Rovelli and Walter) conducts a somewhat irreverent series of interviews.

Also present as a regular member of the team is Oldelaf (yes the connection was a long time coming) who, on each occasion, interprets "La tristitude", adding updated lyrics that often reflect a recent news event.

Yes, the beauty of the song is that it's constantly changing.

The tune remains the same but Oldelaf adapts the lyrics to fit the news and/or the context.

It's always funny, sometimes cruelly so, and very, very clever.

In fact "La tristitude" has become something of a phenomenon, almost a cult among some.

Oldelaf has had additional exposure across the media with what has become the concept "La tristitude" - (a contraction of "tristesse and solitude" or "sadness and solitude") and appears regularly on Drucker's Vivement Dimanche.

There has even been a competition organised on the video sharing service website Dailymotion inviting members of the public to make, create and record their own version of what constitutes "La tristitude".

There's more of course to the 36-year-old Delafosse than just one song, including 10 years worth of concerts and albums as part of the now-defunct act Oldelaf et Monsieur D, and a spell with the French band Les Fatals Picards.

You can read his full bio on his official site.

For the moment though, here's the original of "La tristitude" taken from Oldelaf's 2011 debut album as a solo performer, "Le monde est beau".

If you like what you hear, then you can catch him regularly on Drucker's radio and TV programmes or live at Le Trianon in Paris on April 28.

2012 is a "bisexual" year for French weather forecaster

We've all had them haven't we? Those moments when our mouths become disengaged from our brains and what comes out is similar to, but significantly different from, what had intended that it sends us and those around us into fits of giggles.

It's worse of course when it occurs during a presentation or any form of public speaking.

And when it happens on live TV or radio, the chances are it's going to make its way on to the Net.

Jean-Marc Souami (screenshot France 3)

Such was the case with a slip of the tongue during the lunchtime news on France 3 on Saturday as weather forecaster Jean-Marc Souami, shared with viewers a rather...er...interesting meteorological outlook for the week ahead

Captions with unusually mild temperatures worthy of early Spring and plenty of sunshine especially in the south of the country were what he was about to introduce, but before he did that, he thought he would remind those watching that 2012 was a leap year or "année bissextile" in French.

You can find out the origins of the term (in French) here if you wish.

Anyway, you can probably see where this is going because of course Souami replaced "bissextile" with the word "bisexual" much to his embarrassment but also initial shriek of amusement from the news anchor Catherine Matausch.

Souami, who quickly corrected himself, continued, holding back his own laughter until the end when he offered up a somewhat sheepish apology for his blunder.

Ah the wonders of live telly.