Re: OT: The greetings problem (Re: Never violate a universal unless it seems like a good idea at the time)

Quoting John Cowan <cowan@...>:

> A similar oddity is that "Good night" can only be used at parting;
> at meeting, one must say "Good evening" no matter how late it is.
> Consequently, the English lyrics to the Brahms Lullaby begin "Lullaby and
> good night" ("lullaby" is a word of imitative origin meaning a sleeping
> song sung by a mother to a baby); "good evening and good night" would
> sound like meeting and parting in immediate succession.
Swedish, _hej_ is a common greeting, and _hejdå_ a common thing to say when
parting. An excentricity I've developed is when meeting someone fleetingly -
say someone coming the other way on a road and you've not got the time to stop
and talk - saying _hej_, and some strides later, when parting, supplying the _-
då_.

Unfortunately, this nifty habit of mine does not seem to be catching on ...

                                                       Andreas

Reply