"See You Later"

[Jonathan Lighter]

OED incredibly offers no exx. of "See you later!"  in either a literal or formulaic sense,  but has formulaic "See you soon!" from 1891 and "See you again!" from 1906.  In 1950s N.Y.C., these were common, as were the even more informal "See ya!" and "See ya 'round!"  In my own mind, at least, "See ya later!" always seemed to be literal, referring to a particular time that day.  That it was also used as a mere formula didn't occur to me until I left N.Y.C. in the mid-'70s. I actually remember being slightly taken aback by it. When I said it to my mother over the Ameche (inside slangster humor here), she too answered, "Later? You're in Tennessee."

The point of all this is that you could place "See ya later!" any time after 1890 without derailing history, though the reality might bemore complicated and somebody could still carp at you.

Meanwhile, we should all send Jesse some sorely needed cites.

JL

"Patti J. Kurtz" <kurtpatt4 at NETSCAPE.NET> wrote:
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: "Patti J. Kurtz"
Subject: "See You Later"
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Anyone know about when this expression was used as a casual form of
"good-bye"? I'm writing a historical novel and am not certain it's
something my characters would say.

Thanks!

Patti Kurtz
Minot State University
--

Freeman - And what drives you on, fighting the monster?



Straker - I don't know, something inside me I guess.



Freeman - It's called dedication.



Straker - Pig-headedness would be nearer.

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