Howdy!

[Nick from England]

http://z2.ifrm.com/10701/5/0/p1047318/Howdy_.mp3

How DO you DO!?

Wonder what 'So long' means.
Hmm...

--
(_(_)_)
NfE

[Peter Duncanson [BrE]]

On Fri, 8 Feb 2013 11:08:40 -0000, "Nick from England"
<paci...@btopenworld.com> wrote:

>http://z2.ifrm.com/10701/5/0/p1047318/Howdy_.mp3
>
>How DO you DO!?
>
>Wonder what 'So long' means.
>Hmm...

The OED says:

so long adv. [compare German so lange.] colloq. good-bye,
‘au revoir’.

It doesn't suggest how the phrase originated. It seems to be used when
the speaker is not expecting to see the person again for a long time
unlike the other "goodbye" phrase "see you soon".

The Phrase Finder says:

http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/35/messages/194.html

In 'The Northumberland & Durham Word Book' by Cecil Geeson,
published in 1969,(a glossary of words and phrases used in these two
English counties, mostly dialect words) appears an entry;
"So Long - farewell, Northern expression imported into britain by
soldiers serving in Malayan-speaking countries. Malayan salutation,
Salang, a corruption of Arabic Salaam=peace."
It is of course an expression used in all English - speaking
countries, not just the north of England, but maybe it first
appeared there, I don't know.

Is this just a coincidence? Did the phrase have more than one origin?


--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.english.usage)

[Don Phillipson]

"Nick from England" <paci...@btopenworld.com> wrote in message
news:kf2mb3$432$1...@dont-email.me...

> http://z2.ifrm.com/10701/5/0/p1047318/Howdy_.mp3
>
> How DO you DO!?
>
> Wonder what 'So long' means.

The query is old fashioned (i.e. obsolete, some thinkers would say.)
Philosophers spent about 2000 years seeking "meaning:" then they
changed direction to pursue function, i.e. the relative (mutable) effect
of words in social interchange, rather than the absolute (fixed)
meaning of the words or sentences. This reduces labour.
People who trace Goodbye to God also invoke centuries of
discussion about God's personality and knowability. Functionalists
can ignore God (or the question in Howdyoudo, or the length of So long.)

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

[Ian Jackson]

In message <rlo9h8lpg48fbj1n5...@4ax.com>, "Peter
Duncanson [BrE]" <ma...@peterduncanson.net> writes

From the depth of the bilges of my memory banks, ISTR that "so long" was
supposed to be a corruption of the Jewish "shalom" (rather than "salaam"
etc - but having same meaning and use).
--
Ian

[Nick from England]

"Don Phillipson" <e9...@SPAMBLOCK.ncf.ca> wrote in message
news:kf2tc3$11l$1...@speranza.aioe.org...

LOL - love it!
Reminds me of an episode of The Avengers I have on DVD where Tara King
(Linda Thorson) is motoring along a leafy English lane at the wheel of her
snazzy hatchback with John Steed (Patrick Macnee)...

TARA: Where are we going?
STEED: Ah! The age-old question! Where are we going, indeed! Philosophers
have long pondered that very question. What is the meaning of life?
Why...<Steed went on and on>
TARA: Where are we going?
STEED: Oh! Second on the left.

--
NfE

[Nick from England]

"Peter Duncanson [BrE]" <ma...@peterduncanson.net> wrote in message
news:rlo9h8lpg48fbj1n5...@4ax.com...

Peace! You can give that famous two-fingered sign, but a 'Harvey Smith' is
VERY rude!
I wonder if the 'Harvey Smith' traveled to the New World?
Love their 'traveled' - much niftier than our 'travelled'! :-D

> Is this just a coincidence? Did the phrase have more than one origin?

"Can this be?"
"Have Batman and Robin bin hornswoggled?".

Thanks, Peter! :-)

--
NfE

[Nick from England]

"Ian Jackson" <ianREMOVET...@g3ohx.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:MW1WOsAN...@g3ohx.demon.co.uk...

Isn't that interesting! Thanks.
I never knew "So long"'s etymology would be so obscure.

--
NfE

[Bill McCray]

On 2/8/2013 6:08 AM, Nick from England wrote:
> http://z2.ifrm.com/10701/5/0/p1047318/Howdy_.mp3
>
> How DO you DO!?
>
> Wonder what 'So long' means.
> Hmm...

So short; see you sooner.

Bill in Kentucky

[Nick from England]

"Bill McCray" <billm...@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:kf46en$o0t$1...@news.albasani.net...

Could be the right idea!
From a quote, perhaps, along the lines of

"It's bin so long since I last saw you - let's make it sooner next time!".

Who knows?! :-D

--
NfE

[Tony Cooper]

Then there's "Boy, howdy!", which is not used as a greeting. It's an
exclamation, usually of agreement.

You: That was an exciting game. It went right down to the wire.

Me: Boy, howdy!

I don't know if the comma is a requirement or not.


--
Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida

[Anton Shepelev]

Don Phillipson:

> The query is old fashioned (i.e. obsolete, some
> thinkers would say.) Philosophers spent about
> 2000 years seeking "meaning:" then they changed
> direction to pursue function, i.e. the relative
> (mutable) effect of words in social interchange,
> rather than the absolute (fixed) meaning of the
> words or sentences. This reduces labour.

It is true that the meanings of a word will change,
mulitiply, and extinct during its lifespan, but
their evolution is most often not random, i.e. the
sprout of a new word grows either upon the bow of an
existing one or at least from the earth into which a
previous one had fallen and decayed producing humus.
At a facile glance its appearance may be quite an
unexpected one, but a "look to the root" will reveal
that even the strangest of its features owes its ex-
istance to an ancestor. In this sense I don't agree
that the view of a word's meanings as a family tree
developing in time rather than a set of casually un-
connected elemements is oboslette.

Etymology helps not only to understand subtleities
in words' meanings but also to memorize them by pro-
viding associations.

> People who trace Goodbye to God also invoke cen-

> turies of discussion about God's personality and
> knowability.

Thanks, I never knew it:

No doubt more than one reader has wondered
exactly how goodbye is derived from the
phrase "God be with you." To understand
this, it is helpful to see earlier forms of
the expression, such as God be wy you, god
b'w'y, godbwye, god buy' ye, and good-b'wy.
The first word of the expression is now good
and not God, for good replaced God by anal-
ogy with such expressions as good day, per-
haps after people no longer had a clear idea
of the original sense of the expression. A
letter of 1573 written by Gabriel Harvey
contains the first recorded use of goodbye:
"To requite your gallonde [gallon] of godb-
wyes, I regive you a pottle of howdyes,"
recalling another contraction that is still
used.

It is also interesting that Russian "spasibo"
(thanks) is a contraction of "spasi bog" -- may god
save (you), while "zdravstvujte" (hello) is a wish
of good health.

--
() ascii ribbon campaign - against html e-mail
/\ www.asciiribbon.org - against proprietary attachments

[Bill McCray]

On 2/8/2013 11:55 PM, Tony Cooper wrote:
> On Sat, 9 Feb 2013 03:58:05 -0000, "Nick from England"
> <paci...@btopenworld.com> wrote:
>
>> "Bill McCray"<billm...@mindspring.com> wrote in message
>> news:kf46en$o0t$1...@news.albasani.net...
>>> On 2/8/2013 6:08 AM, Nick from England wrote:
>>>> http://z2.ifrm.com/10701/5/0/p1047318/Howdy_.mp3
>>>>
>>>> How DO you DO!?
>>>>
>>>> Wonder what 'So long' means.
>>>> Hmm...
>>>
>>> So short; see you sooner.
>>
>> Could be the right idea!
>> From a quote, perhaps, along the lines of
>>
>> "It's bin so long since I last saw you - let's make it sooner next time!".
>>
>> Who knows?! :-D
>
> Then there's "Boy, howdy!", which is not used as a greeting. It's an
> exclamation, usually of agreement.
>
> You: That was an exciting game. It went right down to the wire.
>
> Me: Boy, howdy!

That's a new one for me, but I do say "Howdy" occasionally as a greeting
- a short form, of course, for "How do you do?"

Bill in Kentucky

[Nick from England]

"Anton Shepelev" <anto...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:20130209153147.1083...@gmail.com...

> Don Phillipson:
>
>> The query is old fashioned (i.e. obsolete, some
>> thinkers would say.) Philosophers spent about
>> 2000 years seeking "meaning:" then they changed
>> direction to pursue function, i.e. the relative
>> (mutable) effect of words in social interchange,
>> rather than the absolute (fixed) meaning of the
>> words or sentences. This reduces labour.
>
> It is true that the meanings of a word will change,
> mulitiply, and extinct during its lifespan, but
> their evolution is most often not random, i.e. the
> sprout of a new word

<SNIP>

ROFL, I didn't understand any of that, but sprouts is tasty!

--
NfE

[Nick from England]

"Bill McCray" <billm...@mindspring.com> wrote in message

news:kf5ecc$rte$1...@news.albasani.net...

<g> If you saw a Sheriff coming down the street and said, "Howdy Sheriff!"
would he arrest you for being cheeky?

In England a man was arrested for telling a mounted policeman his horse was
gay!
A former Community Police Officer told me a police horse is considered a
police officer in England and you must be respectful to the boys in blue
and, methinks, to Sheriffs across the pond!

--
NfE

[Bill McCray]

You can talk with them and joke with them, generally (unless it's a
grump, maybe), but being disrespectful could get you into trouble.
Saying "Howdy" to a sheriff would probably get friendly greeting in return.

Bill in Kentucky

[THE COLONEL]

"Nick from England" <paci...@btopenworld.com> wrote in message
news:kf2mb3$432$1...@dont-email.me...

It's what gurlz exclaim when they unzip me trousers!

[Nick from England]

"Bill McCray" <billm...@mindspring.com> wrote in message

news:kf5k0t$8gq$1...@news.albasani.net...

Howdy Kentucky Bill!
Mighty interestin'.
Well, I guess I'll mosey off now so, so long! :-)

--
NfE hittin' the trail!

[Nick from England]

"THE COLONEL" <dogp...@caribbeancity.net> wrote in message
news:kf5ui8$877$1...@dont-email.me...

ROFL!
Rude boy!
Go to your room!!

--
NfE