to bid everyone good night

kinokonokonoko

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May 27, 2015, 4:04:33 AM5/27/15

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Does it mean "to say good night to each one " when you say "to bid everyone good night" ?

One night I slipped into her dormitory and hid beneath her sheet while the nuns were saying prayers and sprinkling holy water and bidding everyone good night.

This is a quote from a story about an orphanage which has several dormitories in it. Is it possible for me to read that the nuns are saying good night to everyone by visiting each dormitory?

Eric Walker

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May 27, 2015, 4:20:37 AM5/27/15

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On Wed, 27 May 2015 01:04:29 -0700, kinokonokonoko wrote:

> Does it mean "to say good night to each one" when you say "to bid

> everyone good night" ? . . .

No. It signifies a general "good night" addressed to whomever the
collected persons are. When one says something like "I bid you each good
night," it is a sort of polite fiction suggesting that the good-night
wish is being extended personally to each individual, one at a time,
despite the reality that it is being addressed to a collection of persons.

One just as commonly hears things like "I bid you all good night," which
is nominally more accurate--but in the real world, both sorts of address
are understood as polite formalities.

Bertel Lund Hansen

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May 27, 2015, 4:27:53 AM5/27/15

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kinokonokonoko skrev:

> Does it mean "to say good night to each one " when you say
> "to bid everyone good night" ?

You may get up from a tea party and say "Good night" where you
stand and then leave the room. Then you have bid everyone
good-night.

> One night I slipped into her dormitory and hid beneath her
> sheet while the nuns were saying prayers and sprinkling holy
> water and bidding everyone good night.

"Everyone" in this phrase means everyone in the room. However, I
presume that the nuns would do the same in all dormitories.

--
Bertel, Kolt, Denmark

bert

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May 27, 2015, 6:20:01 AM5/27/15

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Certainly each dormitory, and - contrary to another reply - quite
possibly each individual. Back in 1958, when I was in hospital
in Interlaken for a few weeks, towards bedtime a nurse came round
each ward and wished each patient an individual good night, with
"Gute Nacht, schlafen Sie gut"; so it may well be (or at any rate
have been then) a continental custom in residential institutions.
--

Janet

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May 27, 2015, 6:44:39 AM5/27/15

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In article <03a2c3ae-88d9-4250...@googlegroups.com>,
kinokok...@gmail.com says...

>
> Does it mean "to say good night to each one " when you say "to bid everyone good night" ?
>
> One night I slipped into her dormitory and hid beneath her sheet while the nuns were saying prayers and sprinkling holy water and bidding everyone good night.
>
> This is a quote from a story about an orphanage which has several dormitories in it. Is it possible for me to read that the nuns are saying good night to everyone by visiting each dormitory?

Yes; though they probably bid a single collective goodnight in each
dormitory, rather than repeat "Goodnight" to each child.

In the same way, workers arriving in the office, might bid everyone
good morning with a single greeting.

Janet.

Don Phillipson

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May 27, 2015, 8:29:44 AM5/27/15

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"kinokonokonoko" <kinokok...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:03a2c3ae-88d9-4250...@googlegroups.com...

> Does it mean "to say good night to each one " when you say "to bid
> everyone good night" ?
>
> One night I slipped into her dormitory and hid beneath her sheet while the
> nuns were saying prayers and sprinkling holy water and bidding everyone
> good night.
>

> This is a quote from a story about an orphanage . . .

These two sentences are nonidentical in meaning.
The word "each" specifies attention to each individual
while "everyone" includes a single greeting (etc.)
to the group as a whole. Context remains relevant.
--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)