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

by Torbjörn Lundmark

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

Genres: Nonfiction, Language

262 pages, Hardcover

First published October 27, 2009

Reviews

[Peter Geyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book starts off well, as Lundmark describes an Australian rieual of saying goodbye that I do myself. There are examples from many countries relating ro handshakes, nose-rubbings and the like in literature and in past times.

I found this very enjoyable at the level of information and also as indications of the variety of ways human beings go about their lives. It's accessible and you can read a couple of pages at a time.

['ö-Dzin Tridral · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was fascinating. There are so many rituals for saying hello and goodbye. The book may need a 'social distancing' edition as many physical greetings may be unwise at the moment.

[Jack · Rating 2 out of 5]

A good concept. Many of the best parts were excerpts.

[Tierney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short book with interesting snippets relating to rituals of greetings and farewells from different communities. Lundmark discusses the symbolism behind certain greetings and gestures, and looks at how greeting and parting rituals have evolved over time. This really is a brief overview, and feels almost like a book of trivia, but any more detail would require a much longer, and possibly boring, book. Lundmark injects a hint of humour to keep the story entertaining.

[Al Bità · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fun collection of stories and anecdotes relating to customs, traditions, rituals and human behaviours from around the world, particularly in relation to greeting (the 'Hi's) and parting (the 'Bye's). Entertaining and informative.

[Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked up in Cambridge. Nice light reading for plane trip home and by the bedside. Mostly in form of tidbits in brief sections. Some interesting sections on use of "you," naming conventions and kinship terms, and use of pronouns. Sociolinguistics light.

[Jean-Pierre]

The book is anecdotic and enumerative, and despite a good bibliography does not claim (or deserve) scientific status; but it makes good reading for a long trip and/or a rainy day.

[Niki Ganong · Rating 3 out of 5]

clever little book full of lore and stories.

[Marty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun, but more to the frivolous side than the scholarly side although it does have sources.