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Discussion Groups / English Usage / July 2009Is it right?
I have heard an expression that I think odd, either in BrE or AmE. It is 'nighty night', which indictaes a night full of action or full of surprises. >I have heard an expression that I think odd, either in BrE or AmE. It > is 'nighty night', which indictaes a night full of action or full of > surprises. If I hear or use "nighty night" it means its bedtime. > I have heard an expression that I think odd, either in BrE or AmE. It > is 'nighty night', which indictaes a night full of action or full of > surprises. BrE: it's not at all odd, and it doesn't indicate surprises. It's an informal form of a phrase said as you go to bed, or as you say Good Night to others going to bed. You very often say it to children after you tuck them into bed. obAUE: it occurs to me that it's the reverse of a greeting. When you meet somebody and say, "hello" or "good afternoon", you are greeting them. But what's the word for the reverse, which you say as you leave somebody - the Vale rather than the Ave? "Valediction" works, but it's a bit obscure.  SignatureDavid Quoth the Omrud <usenet.omrud@gEXPUNGEmail.com>, and I quote: >> I have heard an expression that I think odd, either in BrE or AmE. It >> is 'nighty night', which indictaes a night full of action or full of [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] >Night to others going to bed. You very often say it to children after >you tuck them into bed. A "nighty night" also sounds like a night when you decide to wear a nightgown rather than jimjams or nothing at all. Which reminds me of the line in the folk song that is often quoted as an example of the importance of not dropping your aitches: "If Johnny he was here this night he would keep me from all harm" >obAUE: it occurs to me that it's the reverse of a greeting. When you >meet somebody and say, "hello" or "good afternoon", you are greeting >them. But what's the word for the reverse, which you say as you leave >somebody - the Vale rather than the Ave? > >"Valediction" works, but it's a bit obscure. "Parting phrase" is a headword in Wikipedia. The variant in Spooneripedia is equally interesting. SignatureJames >> I have heard an expression that I think odd, either in BrE or AmE. It >> is 'nighty night', which indictaes a night full of action or full of [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > Night to others going to bed. You very often say it to children after > you tuck them into bed. Right. It's also commonly used (in the same context) in the form "night night". My guess is that it originated as a childish corruption of "good night". > obAUE: it occurs to me that it's the reverse of a greeting. When you > meet somebody and say, "hello" or "good afternoon", you are greeting > them. But what's the word for the reverse, which you say as you leave > somebody - the Vale rather than the Ave? > > "Valediction" works, but it's a bit obscure. What about "farewell"? Signatureathel >>> I have heard an expression that I think odd, either in BrE or AmE. It >>> is 'nighty night', which indictaes a night full of action or full of [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > > What about "farewell"? Thanks, that's closer, although not quite equivalent to "greeting", I feel. SignatureDavid >>> I have heard an expression that I think odd, either in BrE or AmE. It >>> is 'nighty night', which indictaes a night full of action or full of [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > night". My guess is that it originated as a childish corruption of "good > night". Also "nigh-night", but is it a childish corruption or a corruption of children by adults? Surely it is the adults who invent all these baby words and teach them to their children. SignatureRob Bannister Robert Bannister filted: >> Right. It's also commonly used (in the same context) in the form "night >> night". My guess is that it originated as a childish corruption of "good [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] >children by adults? Surely it is the adults who invent all these baby >words and teach them to their children. One wonders...I'm told I scoffed at my grandmother when she told me to get into my "jammies" for bed..."the word", I insisted, "is 'bazamas'!"...r SignatureA pessimist sees the glass as half empty. An optometrist asks whether you see the glass more full like this?...or like this? > > I have heard an expression that I think odd, either in BrE or AmE. It > > is 'nighty night', which indictaes a night full of action or full of [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > Night to others going to bed. You very often say it to children after > you tuck them into bed. Same in AmE. I imagine it could be used ironically to indicate a night of action or surprises (which is not a quotation from Landor). -- Jerry Friedman That a man should eat chocolate and not bring some home to his family? SignatureSteve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa Web: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/stevesig.htm Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk >I have heard an expression that I think odd, either in BrE or AmE. It >is 'nighty night', which indictaes a night full of action or full of >surprises. I've only heard it as a way of wishing children a good night before they go to sleep. SignatureSteve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa Web: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/stevesig.htm Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk > On Sat, 27 Jun 2009 21:47:03 -0700 (PDT), "haytham.hammam" > [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > Blog:http://methodius.blogspot.com > E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk Thanks everybody, I had learnt alot from this discussion. >> On Sat, 27 Jun 2009 21:47:03 -0700 (PDT), "haytham.hammam" >> [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] >> > Thanks everybody, I had learnt alot from this discussion. Thank you for coming back to reply - it's interesting for us to know that people are actually reading our answers. Two more things to learn: There is no English word "alot", although some English speakers seem to think there is. It is always "a lot". In your sentence above, you have the wrong form of the auxiliary verb "have". The sentence is grammatically correct, but it doesn't say what you meant. It should be: - I have learnt (or learned) a lot from this discussion. or - I learned a lot from this discussion. SignatureDavid |
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