Comments on: Evenin’ All

By: dw

dw — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:08:10 +0000

I couldn’t find articles from the Times, Guardian or Independent – probably the three most serious of our national dailies

There is only one serious national daily newspaper in the UK: The Financial Times.

By: Philip TAYLOR

Philip TAYLOR — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:36:25 +0000

I was in Athens (Greece) just over a week ago, and exactly this topic arose. We were dining in an Constantinopolitan restaurant in central Athens when my host (a native Athenian) asked whether I would describe the current time of day as “late afternoon”. I said “no”, and explained that for me, “late afternoon” suggests somewhere around 17:30. Charalambos responded that for him (and presumably for many/most Athenians), “late afternoon” suggested around 19:30 (which I would call “early evening”), and Charalambos went on to explain that even “noon” in Athenian usage actually refers to around 15:00.

By: Harry Campbell

Harry Campbell — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:23:12 +0000

Am I right in thinking that “bonsoir” is used at all times of day in (parts of?) Francophone Africa?

@John Cowan It’s also interesting that all of these “good…” forms are occasionally used (or at least were once) when parting.

Good morning!

By: John Maidment

John Maidment — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:23:41 +0000

Maybe we should all adopt the Aussie: G’day

By: John Cowan

John Cowan — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:56:28 +0000

In the Southern U.S., Good evening originally was the applicable greeting any time after noon. This may still be true in rural parts.

It’s interesting that in English Good night cannot be a greeting, only a parting, and that no greeting is clearly applicable between midnight and, say, 6 A.M.

By: JP Villanueva

JP Villanueva — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:11:58 +0000

The point might be that when you’re trying to speak another language, you can’t just cobble together “good” + (time of day) and expect it to be a greeting all the time. Although it is nice to hear that somewhere the police are addressing people with ‘good morning’ and ‘good evening…”

Your point about time-of-day labels is interesting. When I was a high school Spanish teacher, I used to tell my students to base their greetings on whether or not a meal has happened, rather than what the clock says. This annoyed them.