I was watching the John Wick movies and people say Dasvidaniya to each other a lot (owing to the fact Wick is Belarusian and deals with a lot of similar people). I know it basically means “Until we meet again” and is formal, but I remember hearing on a podcast with a Russian speaker that this is a very common mistake in English language films. For example in John Wick he’s basically excommunicated from his Russian allies, and their leader tells John Wick “Dasvidaniya” as she leaves the room fully intending to never see him again because she doesn’t want anything to do with him anymore. But then, why would she say Until We Meet Again basically? The podcast speaker basically said that they should be using less formal good byes especially in acrimonious circumstances, but because English speakers only tend to recognize Dasvidaniya they will use it regardless of how illfitting it is.
Is this actually true? Or is sarcastically saying Dasvidaniya a thing?
Does it really mean that to modern speakers? I’m thinking, we say “goodbye” without really meaning “God be with you”. We even see “goodbye” used in a Jhn-wick sense as in “I’m about to kill you.” (Such as “goodbye, Mister Bond.”)
The Spanish 9and Terminators) say “hasta la vista” without AFAIK a deliberate intent to meet again.
Plus, could it also be ironically interpreted as"See you in hell?"
If you changed the way you said good bye it would be a tip off. However, in John Wick’s case, his best recourse is to assume everyone was trying to kill him except for his two friends at the Continental.
After fighting pretty much the entire planet in John Wick 3 the only way things can get worse is if aliens beam down. Or Denzel can reprise his Equalizer role and the two can dead pan each other to death.
Similarly, in French, two of the words/terms which are used for “goodbye” are the common “au revoir” (more or less, “until we see each other again”), and the less common “adieu” (more or less, “go with God”). My understanding is that “adieu” (which apparently isn’t used much in common French) is typically reserved for a final farewell.
Sure. But the OP describes a scenario where the person is not trying to dissemble her feelings or fool John Wick, so why would she use a “neutral” expression like “do svidaniya” [≡ au revoir] instead of something like “proshchai” [≡ adieu], which seems like it would get the point across?
прощай = proshchai in my above post. Have not gone to see John Wick yet so do not know if anyone says it
I do not know the etymology or I would have already posted it… [ETA Wiktionary says Proto-Slavic prostiti = to forgive, to release] one Russian told me that e.g. if you get a divorce and never want or expect to see the person again, it would be an appropriate thing to say; I hope I am not misremembering.
Note that au revoir means that you expect to see the other person again, but have no idea when. It could be years from now for all you know. Very unlikely but possible.
Additionally, you can use…
à bientôt “(see you) soon”, à demain “(see you) tomorrow” à tout à l’heure “(see you) later today”
Is german the only language that has an expression for saying goodbye on the phone? ‘Auf wiederhoren’, literally translates to ‘until we hear each other again’.
‘Speak to you soon’ works in English, but could also be used face to face.
