AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!

Jun. 18th, 2004 at 10:55 AM

weather	:	sunny
outside	:	22°C
mood	:	pissy

Okay, I reallyreallyreally want my script to finish running so I can bury my head in my work. People are just annoying me, left, right and centre today.

"Adieu" is the WRONG TERM to use for "goodbye" unless you never intend to contact the person ever again. It literally translates as "to God" which implies a permanent parting.

I'm just a hairline away from saying something superlatively nasty about this, but I'll shut up now.

For crying out loud.

Comments

( 11 comments — Leave a comment )

xinit

Jun. 18th, 2004 11:08 am (UTC)

Well, permanent or long term anyway... I always thought of "Adieu" meaning more along the lines of "Vaio con Dios" which I always thought of as a travel blessing that was also used for long and perilous journeys.

Though, that's just me thinking, with no factual backup at all.

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bride

Jun. 18th, 2004 11:12 am (UTC)

I can understand that too, in the sense of "I may not be back".

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xinit

Jun. 18th, 2004 11:16 am (UTC)

Some people may have perilous weekends.....

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magicwoman

Jun. 18th, 2004 12:00 pm (UTC)

I don't think I'm aware of this meaning for that word. I can always learn the coolest things from your journal. . .

Susan

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brokenclay_

Jun. 18th, 2004 01:28 pm (UTC)

I suspect this may be cultural (national?), rather than linguistic. "Adieu" and several derivations of it ("Ade", "Tschuess") are certainly used for casual parting in Switzerland, Australia, southern Germany and Alsace.

Katja

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brokenclay_

Jun. 18th, 2004 01:30 pm (UTC)

Oh for God's sake! Not Australia, AUSTRIA! AUSTRIA!

Everybody knows that in Australia, they say G'Day!

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bride

Jun. 18th, 2004 01:33 pm (UTC)

Hahaha! XD I actually read "Austria" just because my brain was in that region.

they say G'Day!

And they call everyone "Might" =D

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life_beautiful

Jun. 18th, 2004 02:42 pm (UTC)

That's interesting (about adieu). I know that "adios" (Spanish) also has very similar roots. It's literally "a" (to) + "dios" (God). English has this as well: "goodbye" is really just a shortened form of "God be with ye." German's a new one for me, though. I wonder in which other languages this appears...

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brokenclay_

Jun. 19th, 2004 02:49 pm (UTC)

The formal German phrase for good-bye is Auf Wiedersehen, which means "until we see each other again", so it's analogous to au revoir or hasta la vista in Romance languages.

Interestingly enough, the old fashioned south German (Swabia, Bavaria, Austria) greeting upon meeting is Gruess Gott, literally "greet God".

One also hears Servus, which is from Latin, i.e, "your servant".

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life_beautiful

Jun. 19th, 2004 09:34 pm (UTC)

Interesting. I only know a smidgen of German but want to learn more, definitely. Thanks for sharing!

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