# Greetings used as non-greetings



## Encolpius

So far I was able to find 3 examples when a common greeting is used as an idiom with a different meaning. Can you remember an example form your language? Thanks. 

Czech --- No, nazdar! [nazdar is a very common Czech greeting "hello, hi"] - but the idiom is also used as "Oh, shit! Oh dear! etc" to express displeasure
Austrian -- Na, Servus! [servus a very common Austrian greeting] - but the idioms is also used to express displeasure
Hungarian -- Na, jó reggelt! [jó reggelt - good morning] - used when the "penny dropped"


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## ger4

There are two German expressions I can think of now:
- _Guten Morgen!_ - lit. 'good morning!' - sarcastic: 'finally - the penny dropped!' 
- _Aber hallo!_ - lit. 'but hello!' - sarcastic agreement: 'yeah, right', 'dream on!', 'anything else?', 'in your dreams' ...


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## Gavril

In older British English (mid-20th century and earlier), _hello_ was used to introduce an expression of surprise: e.g. _Hello, my watch has stopped!_ 

There are still traces of this usage in Britain today, but as far as I know it is not standard anymore.


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## Encolpius

Wow, you boys surprised me....so other languages might have similar examples... Guten Morgen! is really interesting.....


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## ger4

Gavril said:


> In older British English (mid-20th century and earlier), _hello_ was used to introduce an expression of surprise: e.g. _Hello, my watch has stopped!_
> 
> There are still traces of this usage in Britain today, but as far as I know it is not standard anymore.


That might explain the surprising use of a 'greeting' in German _aber hallo_. Originally* _hallo_ was an utterance of (pleasant) surprise. Apparently it developed into a standardized greeting ('Such a nice surprise to see you'). A parallel development seems to have led to _aber hallo..._ 

* that is, in Middle High German (as far as I know)


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## Encolpius

German: Na, dann gute Nacht! 
Italian: Si, buonanotte!
it is difficult to translate them into English


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## Red Arrow

Holger2014 said:


> _Aber hallo!_ - lit. 'but hello!' - sarcastic agreement: 'yeah, right', 'dream on!', 'anything else?', 'in your dreams' ...


In Dutch: Ja hallo!


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## 810senior

As far as I know there are no such examples in Japanese.


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## ThomasK

Red Arrow :D said:


> In Dutch: Ja hallo!


Or else (Fl): *ook *(also)* een goeiemorgen* ! (expressing discontent, maybe amazement)


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## Karton Realista

Encolpius said:


> Hungarian -- Na, jó reggelt! [jó reggelt - good morning] - used when the "penny dropped"


In Polish you say "Dzień dobry" (good day) if somebody hits their head, stumbles on a rock and falls, they break sth; in general sth bad happens that has to do with them being clumsy.
"do widzenia" (goodbye) is said sometimes to show that something had/is inevitably ended/ending. "Jeden błąd i do widzenia, po wszystkim" - one mistake and it's goodbye, all done for


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## Encolpius

Thank you, Karton!


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## DearPrudence

I suppose this is slightly different, but in *French* we can use "*bonjour*" to introduce something that is difficult (and as a result, this is extremely hard to translate into English).
So usually, the form is "bonjour + noun" :_ "Bonjour l'angoisse !" Bonjour les dégâts !"..._
Examples taken from the Larousse:
*pour le faire aller à l'école, bonjour !*   _ no way can you get him to go to school !_
*je n'ai pas fait de gym depuis un mois, bonjour les courbatures ! *  _ I haven't done any exercise for a month, I'm going to ache, let me tell you !_


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## igusarov

Russian:
Primary meaning of "привет" is "hi". There is a set phrase "*с приветом*", which literally translates as "with hi". If used as the last line in a letter (much like English phrases "with regards", "with compliments") it conveys elated state of the sender. However, such usage is extremely rare; you can see it in older texts (before approx. 1940), with only a few examples in 2000s.
But if you say that someone is "with hi", then it means that he's "*off one's rocker*", "not quite normal", possibly implying some mental disorder. As if "hi" was a thing or attribute in his possession.

Another example is "*здоро́во живёшь*" (literally: "healthy live"). It is both greeting, both expression of surprise.
"*За здоро́во живёшь*" is a set phrase which could mean "for gratis", "for nothing", "for no efforts", "for no reason".


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## Encolpius

igusarov said:


> But if you say that someone is "with hi", then it means that he's "*off one's rocker*", "not quite normal", possibly implying some mental disorder. As if "hi" was a thing or attribute in his possession.



Can you say a Russian example? You mean: Я думаю что Саша с приветом.


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## igusarov

Encolpius said:


> Я думаю, что Саша с приветом.


Exactly! "I think Alex is a bit cuckoo". Here's a collection of dictionary translations of this phrase.


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## SuperXW

In Cantonese, a "greeting" can be used as a "cursing" as well. The word “greet” itself becomes a euphemism of foul languages.

e.g.
問候你老母
Original meaning: “greet your mother”
Potential meaning: “speak to your mother with foul language; curse your mother; fuck your mother”


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## Penyafort

Gavril said:


> In older British English (mid-20th century and earlier), _hello_ was used to introduce an expression of surprise: e.g. _Hello, my watch has stopped!_
> 
> There are still traces of this usage in Britain today, but as far as I know it is not standard anymore.





Holger2014 said:


> That might explain the surprising use of a 'greeting' in German _aber hallo_. Originally* _hallo_ was an utterance of (pleasant) surprise. Apparently it developed into a standardized greeting ('Such a nice surprise to see you'). A parallel development seems to have led to _aber hallo..._



It's the same thing in Spanish. *Hola *can also be used as an expression of surprise, although its use these days is rather old-fashioned or regional.


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## Encolpius

Penyafort said:


> It's the same thing in Spanish. *Hola *can also be used as an expression of surprise, although its use these days is rather old-fashioned or regional.



I am afraid the expressions from other languages might be considered old-fashioned as well, witty idiomatic speech is on decline.


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## ilocas2

*Agentura Dobrý den* (Agency Good day) is name of a private company that cares about Czech records. This agency registers Czech records that are published afterwards in _Česká kniha rekordů_ (Czech book of records) and runs _Muzeum rekordů a kuriozit_ (Museum of records and curiosities) in town of Pelhřimov where a festival with the name _Pelhřimov - město rekordů_ (Pelhřimov - town of records) takes place every year.

I think this company is significant, many people in Czech Republic are aware of its existence, so it belongs in this thread.


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## ger4

Encolpius said:


> I am afraid the expressions from other languages might be considered old-fashioned as well, witty idiomatic speech is on decline.


I'm not sure but at least the German _aber hallo_ has become more "fashionable" in recent years. That's just my impression but Google Ngram Viewer seems to confirm it (at least for the time period until 2008).
So perhaps a German equivalent of the Czech _Agentura Dobrý den_ could be an _Agentur Aber Hallo_...


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## Karton Realista

Penyafort said:


> *Hola *can also be used as an expression of surprise, although its use these days is rather old-fashioned or regional.


In Polish you also can say hola (with h being voiced). It definitely is a loan (there's H standalone instead of Ch). It means something like "hold it!". It may as well come from Spanish


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## Uriel-

In English we can use "hello!" to express contempt, as in, "I found him outside washing the car.  How stupid is that?  I mean, hello, it was pretty obvious that it was going to rain later on."

We also use it to express surprise or a kind of sardonic agreement.  There is a certain characteristic tone you have to employ when using it this way.


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## sound shift

Gavril said:


> In older British English (mid-20th century and earlier), _hello_ was used to introduce an expression of surprise: e.g. _Hello, my watch has stopped!_
> 
> There are still traces of this usage in Britain today, but as far as I know it is not standard anymore.


"Hello! What's happened here?" can still be heard from the BrE speaker who has just noticed that something has gone wrong.

A streaker runs onto the pitch during a televised cricket match. The camera of course moves away but the commentator produces a drawn-out "Hel-lo!"

Also: "Hello! What have we got here then?" (from one police officer to another, when suspects have finally been tracked down or when incriminating evidence has been found.)


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