Tales of Hi and Bye
Greeting and Parting Rituals Around the World

This book provides an intriguing insight into the fascinating customs associated with greeting and parting rituals around the world.

Torbjörn Lundmark (Author)

9780521117548, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 27 October 2009

262 pages, 45 b/w illus.
19 x 13 x 2.3 cm, 0.38 kg

'… wry, elegant little tome … turning trivia into something more.' The Australian

We do it over and over again, day after day, and never seem to get enough of it. Albanians do it. Zulus do it. Movie stars and plumbers do it. All around the world, people say hi and bye in innumerable languages and countless ways: they wave and bow and curtsey and shake hands and rub noses and fist-bump and mwah-mwah and perform a vast array of greeting and farewell rituals, so common and natural that no-one stops to notice … Tales of Hi and Bye provides a delightful, witty, and intriguing insight into the sometimes strange and often wonderful customs associated with an ordinary, everyday event. For more information, book extracts and cartoons visit www.talesofhiandbye.com

Acknowledgements
To the reader
Introduction
Gestures and signals: take a bow: bending at the neck or waist
Hi, Hitler! Arm salutes at various angles
Do a nose job: rubbing and sniffing as a greeting
XXXX! The heartfelt kiss
Flashy hello: the eyebrow flash
Getting the shakes: the story of the handshake
Slaps, daps, thumps and bumps: not so gripping handshakes
I dips me lid: the hat as a courtesy tool
Hello? Hell, no! Greeting refusals
Waves of emotion: greeting from a distance
Customs and behaviours: no hug for Dr Livingstone: a demonstration of restraint
It hurts to say goodbye: the Parthian shot
How stiff can your upper lip get? Avoiding strangers
Chinese whispers: greeting and parting rituals in China
From Russia with love: sit on your case and say goodbye
Cut it out! How to avoid saying 'hello'
I don't speak to my mother-in-law: avoidance language
Phonethics: telephone mannerisms
Thanks for having me on! Names and forms of address in the media
Eskimodesty: greeting and visiting in the Arctic
Names and addresses: what's so good about it? The curious nature of 'good-' greetings
Ahoy, ahoy! Pick up the phone! 'Hello' and its uses
The unlucky Mr Szcz??ciarz: foreign names in foreign places
Wang is King in China: too many people
not enough names
Finding Björk: Icelandic names
Yoo-hoo! Who? You! How Swedes don't address each other
Mister Doctor: titles of medicos, surgeons and barbers
I forget my name: loss of first name by marriage
When your coz is your sis: kinship terms
You, thou and other politenesses: familiar and polite 'you'
Include me out! Dual, trial and other grammatical curiosities
For me to know and you to find out: naming and name taboos
Bye-bye! How things have changed
Postscript
Notes
Sources
Index.

Subject Areas: Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography [JHMC], Sociolinguistics [CFB]