He kissed her on the hair.

[99bottles]

I don't have any specific sentence in mind. It just occurred to me that I had never wondered whether there is a difference between Kiss someone on the (insert body part) and Kiss someone's (insert body part). For example, is there a difference between:

He kissed her on the hair.

He kissed her hair.

 

[Tdol]

I would use the second- the first sounds weird to me.

 

[99bottles]

I would use the second- the first sounds weird to me.

Is it weird only with hair? Or with other body parts too?

 

[Yankee]

I would use the second- the first sounds weird to me.

Weird for me is the "insert body part" and I don't think I want to know.

 

[jutfrank]

It can be okay to say He kissed her on the ... but it doesn't have quite the same meaning as He kissed her ...

He kissed her thighs. [Her thighs are the object of his kissing]

He kissed her on the lips. [She is the object of his kissing, and the 'on-phrase' makes a special point of saying precisely which part of her is concerned]

I don't like He kissed her on the hair very much because her hair isn't very precisely located. I mean, where on the hair? Do you mean on her head?