What is it about?
This essay traces the expression "have a good day" (and its variant "have a nice day") from its earliest appearance in the Middle Ages to modern times. The essay shows that, although the term is sometimes thought of as phatic, it can also have nuanced meaning.
Featured Image
Why is it important?
Forms of expression that we often take for granted can have nuanced meaning. This essay demonstrates how the phrase "have a nice day" has been employed both sincerely and sarcastically since its first appearance in the Middle Ages.
Perspectives
This article stems from conversations many years back with a former colleague, John Welch, who delighted in showing me occurences of the phrase "have a good day" in medieval works .Over the years, I have collected other instances of the phrase and sought to analyze how its meaning has evolved.
Carol Jamison
Georgia Southern University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: “Have nou godenai day”, Journal of Historical Pragmatics, October 2022, John Benjamins,
DOI: 10.1075/jhp.19010.jam.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
