Tales of Hi and Bye: Greeting and Parting Rituals Around the World

by Torbjörn Lundmark

• ISBN13: 9780521117548
• ISBN10: 0521117542
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-11-09
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

We do it over and over again, day after day, and never seem to get enough of it. Albanians do it. Zulus do it. Movie stars and plumbers do it. All around the world, people say hi and bye in innumerable languages and countless ways: they wave and bow and curtsey and shake hands and rub noses and fist-bump and mwah-mwah and perform a vast array of greeting and farewell rituals, so common and natural that no-one stops to notice ... Tales of Hi and Bye provides a delightful, witty, and intriguing insight into the sometimes strange and often wonderful customs associated with an ordinary, everyday event. For more information, book extracts and cartoons visit www.talesofhiandbye.com

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

To the reader

Introduction

Gestures and signals: take a bow: bending at the neck or waist

Hi, Hitler! Arm salutes at various angles

Do a nose job: rubbing and sniffing as a greeting

XXXX! The heartfelt kiss

Flashy hello: the eyebrow flash

Getting the shakes: the story of the handshake

Slaps, daps, thumps and bumps: not so gripping handshakes

I dips me lid: the hat as a courtesy tool

Hello? Hell, no! Greeting refusals

Waves of emotion: greeting from a distance

Customs and behaviours: no hug for Dr Livingstone: a demonstration of restraint

It hurts to say goodbye: the Parthian shot

How stiff can your upper lip get? Avoiding strangers

Chinese whispers: greeting and parting rituals in China

From Russia with love: sit on your case and say goodbye

Cut it out! How to avoid saying 'hello'

I don't speak to my mother-in-law: avoidance language

Phonethics: telephone mannerisms

Thanks for having me on! Names and forms of address in the media

Eskimodesty: greeting and visiting in the Arctic

Names and addresses: what's so good about it? The curious nature of 'good-' greetings

Ahoy, ahoy! Pick up the phone! 'Hello' and its uses

The unlucky Mr Szczesciarz: foreign names in foreign places

Wang is King in China: too many people

not enough names

Finding Björk: Icelandic names

Yoo-hoo! Who? You! How Swedes don't address each other

Mister Doctor: titles of medicos, surgeons and barbers

I forget my name: loss of first name by marriage

When your coz is your sis: kinship terms

You, thou and other politenesses: familiar and polite 'you'

Include me out! Dual, trial and other grammatical curiosities

For me to know and you to find out: naming and name taboos

Bye-bye! How things have changed

Postscript

Notes

Sources

Index

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