# Croatian: ugodan i udoban



## wanipa

Bok! Bog!

On looking up "Ugodan boravak" I chancely found the word "udoban".

Is "udoban" really the same in meaning with "ugodan"? 
Are they exchangeable in some case or even totally?

BTW, which one is correct, if not both?
Bok! ili Bog! ?

Hvala lijepa!


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## kloie

Ugodan means pleasant and udoban means comfortable.
Bog and bok are the same I think bog is formal and bok is informal but let's wait for natives.


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## Panceltic

Kloie is right about ugodan and udoban.

However, bog is 'god' and bok is 'hello'.


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## wanipa

Thanks a lot!

I was told that people nowadays also use bog for hello.

Was that a rumor?


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## kloie

No it's not a rumor it's used but in Croatia not Serbia.


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## wanipa

So, in Croatia:
Bok = Hello
Bog = Hello, God

And in Serbia:
Bok = Hello
Bog = God

Am I right?


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## kloie

In Serbia they say zdravo


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## Jeki

That's true. In Serbia we don't say "bog" or "bok", but "zdravo" or "ćao".


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## wanipa

Thanks a lot!


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## Gavran

wanipa said:


> BTW, which one is correct, if not both?
> Bok! ili Bog! ?



Now here's an interesting thing.

In southern and maybe central parts of Croatia this may be derived from "God with you" or anything derived from "God" (Bog) and either remaining "Bog" or transformed to "bok".

However, an old person told me from his personal experience (and I verified it later from other sources) that "bok" in the northern parts comes from German "Mein Bücken" meaning "my bow" (I bow to you), or "moj naklon" which was a standard greeting in northern Croatia in the old(er) times. Allegedly it isn't verified that the Austrians/Germans themselves said "Mein Bücken", but being ruled by Austria, I can imagine Croats translating _their_ greeting into German on their own and using it.


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## wanipa

Well, that's interesting.

I almost thought it had something to do with German greetings "Grüß Gott" (May God greet) in the Southern Germany 
or in Austria. That's the reason I took for understood to mix bok and bog for languages do lean from each other.


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## Gavran

I guess every language has a greeting containing or derived from "God" in one form or another. The catch in Croatia is that in the '90s, when the national ideological paradigm shifted towards conservative and religious, there was almost a forcible attempt to switch "bok" to "bog". 

And now I just remember that another traditional greeting was "bogdaj" ("bog daj..." or "God give...").


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## Hachi25

I have never heard someone in Croatia say 'Bog!' to say 'Hello'. You can only see that in subtitles when our translators want to sound very formal.

Just say 'bok', 'zdravo', 'ćao' or even '(h)ej', this is what is used the most.


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## Gavran

Hachi25 said:


> I have never heard someone in Croatia say 'Bog!' to say 'Hello'. You can only see that in subtitles when our translators want to sound very formal.



Hm, you're actually right... Wit the frontal assault being performed by the television and some other media, with the thing being totally informal I never relly noticed that nobody actually says it aloud...

As for translators wanting to sound "formal", I'd rather call it "politically suitable", and if they don't, copyeditors will. But that's a matter for another discussion.


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## kloie

I was told by Croatian textbooks that:
Bok and bog ,pozdrav  are used in Croatia .
Cao, zdravo, pozdrav are used in Serbia.


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## 123xyz

Would the tones/accents in "bok" meaning "hello" and "bog" meaning "hello" be the same? If so, would it be the same tone that occurs in "bog" meaning "god"?


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## Jeki

I think the accent is the same everywhere (long falling "bôg").


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## Gavran

No. "Bok" is very short and "Bog" is long. But, as previously stated, the latter isn't heard so often so everything is possible, I guess.


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## Jeki

Short falling or short rising?


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## Gavran

I'm afraid I never could distinguish between those two.


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## Hachi25

Jeki said:


> Short falling or short rising?



The word 'Bog' can't have a short rising accent. Every monosyllabic word in Serbo-Croatian language can have only falling accents, either short or long.

And sorry for the late reply.


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