by Alan Townendrecipient is a total stranger. That reminds me of a student of mine
some years ago when I was teaching in central London. She was a
young and very sociable girl from the West Indies. At home she lived
in a very small village where everybody knew everybody else. What
she couldn't understand at first was why nobody reciprocated her
bright «Good morning» to everybody she met during the rush hour
on the London underground stations. She soon learnt that people in
big cities hurrying to work aren't a friendly lot.
Then of course there are words you use when you part, go away,
leave. In a previous century you might use the very dramatic
«Farewell» but please don't say that when you've just bought a
newspaper and are leaving the shop - they might start talking about
you. «Good-bye» or simply «bye» are the favourites. «See you» is
popular too and one that intrigues me because in most cases it is
never fulfilled «See you later». Becoming even more common and
perhaps this is a sign of the dangerous times we live in is «Take
care». Following up a question raised in our Internet Forum recently
to do with «last night» and «yesterday evening» where the former is
very late and possibly after bedtime and the latter is prior to that,
what do we say as a salutation at the end of the day particularly if
it's dark? You can of course fall back on «Hi» and «Hello» but
somehow darkness seems to call for formality and «Good evening»
would be right and if it's very late, «Good night» would be fine. And
now I've got to find a way to finish this newsletter - oh I know
«CHEERS!»