And it's not just Maltastar, either
I hope you won’t mind if I veer off from the extreme tension in Libya with something mildly distracting.
This is about the way Maltese people who talk to each other on Facebook like to sign off with ‘good day’.
They operate in blissful ignorance of the fact that, in idiomatic English usage, ‘good day’ – when used at the point of parting – is not cheery and friendly like ‘ciao’ or ‘sahha’ or ‘bye’, but is actually a hostile dismissal.
This is a scenario in which you might use ‘good day’ on parting (if you are not Maltese talking to another Maltese in Manglish on your Facebook wall).
An acquaintance comes to your office with a request which you cannot possibly countenance. He is rude about it, aggressive. Instead of telling him to go and f**k himself and never darken your doorstep again, you use one of the codes and signals with which civilised British (and in this case, WASP North American) culture is replete.
You stand up and you say, peremptorily: ‘I’m afraid I cannot accede to your request. Good day.’
The other person understands immediately that he has been dismissed and, through the ‘good day’, that his host is very much annoyed with him.
‘Good day’ is the formal, polite, slightly old-fashioned equivalent of ‘leave now and go to hell’.
‘Good day’ is NOT hostile only when it is used as a greeting, and as a greeting it is never used when you actually stop to speak to somebody, but only when you pass them by in the street and carry right on. It is slightly formal and old-fashioned, too.
This is Jeffrey ‘Spiked Drinks’ Pullicino Orlando on Facebook today.
Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando
Long day at the clinic to look forward to today ! Heqq-all play and no work …….. Ma jaqbilx ! Good day :)
about an hour ago
10 people like this..
Miriam Camilleri
min jorqodx ma jaqbadx hut jghjdu ux
about an hour ago.
Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando
hekk hu ! :) good day
Jeffrey probably thinks he’s being cheery and civil with those ‘good days’, but to me it just scans as hostile and dismissive. If he must insist on using ‘good day’, then he’s got to go the whole American hog and stick ‘have a’ before it.
Of course, if you’re Australian and live in the ‘g’day, mate’ culture, then none of the above applies.
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I am no fan of Facebook wall inanity, and these comments of Jeffrey’s just say it all.
Who cares if you are facing a long day at the clinic, except possibly your patients?
Ahjar kieku Miriam Camilleri qaltlu ” Mohhok hemm” when dealing with those molars.
I haven’t been on Facebook in nearly two years, but I feel like going back on just to send JPO a bull & show him where testicles should be.
Or maybe a diagram pointing to them in case he has difficulty finding the place.
No, elves – I’m not being sarcastic this time. He really does need to know (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Good day is used in the US, Canada amd Australia, It is usually used at the end of a conversation and not simply as a greeting.
[Daphne – David, if you were brighter, you would suspect that I might know – for reasons that have to do not only with language – rather more about this subject than you do. The mistake you make – repeatedly, and I hear that you do it on other people’s blogs, too – is to Wiki or Google things and put up challenges for the sake of it. Learn how to pick your battles. Yes, read my post again and you will see that this is precisely what I said: that it is used at the end of a conversation, precisely to mark that the conversation is over – but it is a DISMISSAL. If somebody from any of the countries – and Britain – that you mention tells you ‘good day’ at the end of a conversation, you can take it as read that he wants you out of his sight and that of the two of you, he is the one with the ‘power’. He is either more senior than you are, or you are on his turf.]
In Maltese we can say il-gurnata t-tajba, or in other languages buona giornata or bonne journee, ie I wish that you have a good day.
[Daphne – Yes, David, exactly: Maltese people who Facebook ‘good day’ to each other are making the mistake you make here. It’s called literal translation.]
Only a backward elve would say ‘good day’ at the end of an amicable conversation, whether in the US, Canada or Australia.
As Daphne explained well, ‘good day’ at the end of a conversation/comment is a dismissive phrase akin to ‘good riddance’.
[Daphne – Thank you, Angus. Might I point out, for David’s benefit, that you live in Canada?]
For a funny demonstration of this, watch Fez in “That 70s Show”.
“Good day”. “But Fez…” “I said good day”.
I understand your point, Daphne, and I agree with you up to a certain point. I’m no expert on Face Book or rather social network language but there is a small detail with JPO’s “good day” : the smiley :) before or after the “good day”. That smiley represents the body language which has no symbols in the formal written language.
For me, JPO’s ” :) good day” looks fine in the ‘informal’ Face Book context , just look at how Ms Camilleri wrote “min jorqod ma jaqbadx hut, jghidu hux?”.(min jorqodx ma jaqbadx hut jghjdu ux).
[Daphne – The point is, John, that idiomatic English does not know ‘good day’ as a friendly way of signing-off or parting, and the use of a smiley does not change this. If certain Maltese people wish to create their own patois, then fine. But if they wish to speak and write the language properly, then they should seek – and take – advice. Or just listen.]
The devil lies in the detail, that smiley wipes away all the sarcasm there could be in the greeting.
[Daphne – No, John, it doesn’t. Smiley symbols are used by people when they realise that their words might be misinterpreted. My own take on the matter is that if you communicate properly in the first place, there is no need for smileys. A smiley symbol does not change the incorrect use of ‘good day’. It just makes it more embarrassingly wrong. Also, it is not up to you to agree with me or not. What I described up in the post above are facts about English usage, and not my opinion. So agreement doesn’t come into it. A fact simply is.]
Some years ego Enzo Guzman started correcting the SMS text messages he received on his radio show, “taghna tinkiteb te , a , ghajn , enne, a ,mhux te, a, enne , a !” He forgot something important ; it was a Short Message Service.
[Daphne – I rarely abbreviate my words in text messages, and I have absolutely no time for grown-ups who do. When I receive a text message from an adult, including ridiculous abbreviations like ‘u’, I immediately mark the person down mentally and intellectually. When sending a text message, you do not pay per symbol as we used to do with cables, or by time as with telex. Nor is there any restriction any longer on the length of a message since the improvement in phone technology. So there is no justification for abbreviating. It just screams ‘lazy and sub-literate corner-cutter’.]
Buon lavoro . Now how would one say that in English? {;-)
[Daphne – You don’t. British and North American culture takes the work ethic for granted. So there is no equivalent to the Italian compulsion to wish others ‘good work’ or ‘work well’. I suppose it’s only a matter of time before somebody Maltese feels the need to translate it literally and pepper Facebook walls with ‘good work’ followed by a smiley symbol.]
[John Schembri – He forgot something important ; it was a Short Message Service].
SMS and social networks are eroding language. I am certain that most people who misspell in SMS or social networks, misspell anywhere else.
I refuse to intentionally misspell words, even in SMS. If one is too lazy to text a whole word, one should dial and phone.
It’s all the rage at the moment. The checkout girls must have been given instructions. ‘Good day’ they tell me, as I exit the supermarket. ‘And the same to you’ I reply.