Chabon likes to play around with words, and I'm going to go way out on a limb and guess that what he's done here is blend 'buss', to caress with the lips, and osculation, an act of caressing with the lips. the resulting word, in context, seems somehow to suggest something a little more than a sum of its parts.

-joe (see also aetataureate) friday

Last edited by tsuwm; 06/25/2008 1:17 AM. Reason: link to context