Hello, Good-bye

Even simple things like saying hello and good-bye are different here. The greetings of choice when seeing friends and colleagues seem to be “hi-ya” (hello) and “see-ya” (good-bye). The word “cheers” is also commonly used, but more so to mean “thanks.” If you help someone out in some way, or answer a question for them, they typically say “cheers” in return. People also tend to sign off emails with “cheers” (whereas in America people use the word “thanks.”) But in more formal emails or written letters, the signoff of choice here is “Regards or “Kind regards” as opposed to “Sincerely.”

The funniest difference of all is when saying good-bye on the telephone. Everyone here, whether man or woman, regardless of age, class or position, tends to raise the tone of their voice several octaves when saying “bye.” The last sentence of your conversation might be…”Okay, I’ll catch you later…bye!” That last word (“bye”) is unmistakably higher pitched than the rest of the sentence. It’s so common here that you easily find yourself picking up the habit, as I have now done. Otherwise, it just doesn’t seem like you’re saying good-bye properly unless you raise the pitch of your voice for that last word before hanging up. Strange.