When & whence "have a good day"?

[Jonathan Lighter]

Yes, Peter. That reinforces the cloudy memory I had of hearing it around NYU at the same time. Definitely not, in my limited experience, in the '60s, though it must have been current for some time before pedants began to take notice.

JL

"Peter A. McGraw" <pmcgraw at LINFIELD.EDU> wrote:
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: "Peter A. McGraw"

Subject: Re: When & whence "have a good day"?
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I know I first heard it (with "nice") in 1970, from a student in
Chattanooga, TN.

Peter Mc.

--On Friday, May 20, 2005 2:26 PM -0700 Jonathan Lighter
wrote:

> I never had that impression. I remember noticing its ubiquity but can't
> quite recall just when that was. "Have a *nice* day" was the form that
> excited horror amongst prophets of linguistic doom. '70s ? Early '80s ?
>
> My own feeling is that either form is precisely as harmless as the
> hallowed and archaic "Good day !" They've never bugged me.
>
> Now, smiley faces. *They* bug me !
>
> JL
>
> sagehen wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> ----------------------- Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: sagehen
> Subject: When & whence "have a good day"?
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ------
>
> I can't remember when or where I first heard the now-ubiquitous "have a
> good day" (& minor variations, as "have a good un") following every
> transaction. Perhaps it hasn't supplanted the " y'all come back now" of
> other regions, but it is heard on all sides in the northeast. Did this
> come from tv?
> A. Murie
>
> A&M Murie
> N. Bangor NY
> sagehen at westelcom.com
>
>
> ---------------------------------
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*****************************************************************
Peter A. McGraw Linfield College McMinnville, Oregon
******************* pmcgraw at linfield.edu ************************


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