# "Good day, sir. . ." **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 9, 2009, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-day-sir/502448 "2009-07-09T13:46:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-day-sir/502448/21 "2009-07-09T16:45:07Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > My bad. It was afternoon, not morning. > > [From an online e-book (bottom of page 11):](http://www.ibiblio.org/ebooks/Dickens/Carol/Dickens_Carol.htm#p11) Well this isn’t even very close. – just a repeated, “Good afternoon.” I’m now even more positive that the familiar formulation is from Wonka. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-day-sir/502448/22 "2009-07-09T16:46:03Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > My bad. It was afternoon, not morning. > > [From an online e-book (bottom of page 11):](http://www.ibiblio.org/ebooks/Dickens/Carol/Dickens_Carol.htm#p11) And lacking the “I said” and the “sir”, which are integral to the quote. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-day-sir/502448/23 "2009-07-09T16:46:44Z")
> [@Huerta88](#): > > I’m going to bet a lot of money it was not the Willy Wonka movie. As suggested upthread, this is pretty much how you would say “goodbye” to someone in formal English of the Victorian period – and saying “goodbye” with a particularly dismissive tone that makes it far from a pleasantry is hardly an idea that first sprung to mind in 1974 or whenever. Was it in the book? No. The book has no screw-ups by Charlie and Grandpa Joe, and no reason for Wonka to play the head game that he did in the movie. It was just “farewell to Mike Teevee, congratulations Charlie, you win the factory, let’s go pick up your folks in the Great Glass Elevator, The End, don’t forget to buy _Willy Wonka and the Great Glass Elevator_”. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-day-sir/502448/24 "2009-07-09T16:50:13Z")
Couple of quotes from Dickens’ [_A Christmas Carol_](http://www.literature.org/authors/dickens-charles/christmas-carol/chapter-01.html): > [@](#): > > "Why did you get married?‘’ said Scrooge. > > "Because I fell in love.‘’ > > "Because you fell in love!‘’ growled Scrooge, as if that were the only one thing in the world more ridiculous than a merry Christmas. "Good afternoon!‘’ > > "Nay, uncle, but you never came to see me before that happened. Why give it as a reason for not coming now?‘’ > > "Good afternoon,‘’ said Scrooge. > > "I want nothing from you; I ask nothing of you; why cannot we be friends?‘’ > > "Good afternoon,‘’ said Scrooge. > > "I am sorry, with all my heart, to find you so resolute. We have never had any quarrel, to which I have been a party. But I have made the trial in homage to Christmas, and I’ll keep my Christmas humour to the last. So A Merry Christmas, uncle!‘’ > > "Good afternoon!‘’ said Scrooge. > > "And A Happy New Year!‘’ > > "Good afternoon!‘’ said Scrooge. One can imagine the increasing forcefulness of Scrooge’s repeated utterance as Fred continues to needle him. > [@](#): > > "If they would rather die,‘’ said Scrooge, "they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population. Besides – excuse me – I don’t know that.‘’ > > "But you might know it,‘’ observed the gentleman. > > "It’s not my business,‘’ Scrooge returned. "It’s enough for a man to understand his own business, and not to interfere with other people’s. Mine occupies me constantly. Good afternoon, gentlemen!‘’ While it is not the exact quote from _Willy Wonka_, it clearly is said in much the same spirit and I don’t think it would be that far of a stretch to imagine “Good day” used in an identical context in that day and age. And for all your Victorian-casual needs, might we suggest the following [item](http://www.glarkware.com/adult/good-day-to-you-sir)? ETA Damn you, **kaylasdad**! Good day, sir! ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-day-sir/502448/25 "2009-07-09T16:54:30Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > No. The book has no screw-ups by Charlie and Grandpa Joe, and no reason for Wonka to play the head game that he did in the movie. It was just “farewell to Mike Teevee, congratulations Charlie, you win the factory, let’s go pick up your folks in the Great Glass Elevator, The End, don’t forget to buy _Willy Wonka and the Great Glass Elevator_”. (It really wasn’t as good an ending, dramatically speaking, as the movie’s was. Rather anticlimactic, in fact.) ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-day-sir/502448/26 "2009-07-09T17:01:03Z")
Here, btw, is a previous thread on this topic: [Origin of quote, "I said GOOD DAY, sir!" - Factual Questions - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=321772) ---
**Author:** ![JimOfAllTrades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@JimOfAllTrades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimOfAllTrades)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-day-sir/502448/27 "2009-07-09T17:40:22Z")
Although the definitive “I said good day!” construction may come from Willy Wonka, the practice of using “good morning” or some other greeting as a dismissal was certainly in use much earlier. Even Tolkien used it: > [@](#): > > "‘Good morning!’ he said at last. ‘We don’t want any adventures here, thank you! You might try over The Hill or across The Water.’ By this he meant that the conversation was at an end. > > ‘What a lot of things you use Good morning for!" said Gandalf "Now you mean that you want to be rid of me, and it won’t be good til I move off.’ > > “Not at all, not at all, my dear sir! Let me see, I don’t think I know your name?” > > “Yes, yes, my dear sir — and I do know your name, Mr Bilbo Baggins. And you do know my name, though you don’t remember that I belong to it. I am Gandalf, and Gandalf means me! To think that I should have lived to be good-morninged by Belladonna Took’s son, as if I was selling buttons at the door!”" > > — Bilbo and Gandalf ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-day-sir/502448/28 "2009-07-09T18:45:41Z")
I remember that Andy Dick’s character (Matthew) said the exact phrase to Phil Hartman’s character (Bill) on News Radio… (sure a shame that Hartman’s crazy, coked up wife didnt also shoot Andy Dick when she gunned down Phil Hartman and herself—would have almost been worth the loss of P.H.) ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2009, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-day-sir/502448/29 "2009-07-09T18:58:32Z")
On reflection, I agree that Foghorn Leghorn is an unlikely source. All I can say is that if no one turns up a direct use from at least Wodehouse or somesuch, I will truly have had my ignorance fought on this subject. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2016, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-day-sir/502448/30 "2016-03-13T17:07:00Z")
Bumped. A repeated “Good morning” is also used dismissively in this _Monty Python_ sketch: [Monty Python: Secret Service Dentists](http://www.montypython.net/scripts/dentist.php) ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2016, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-day-sir/502448/31 "2016-03-13T17:27:43Z")
I think the origin of this as an oft-quoted phrase is almost certainly _Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory_. However, a quick search of Google Books turned up a couple of much earlier examples of someone trying to end a conversation by saying “Good day, sir”, the other person trying to continue making their point, and the first person firmly saying “I said ‘Good day, sir.’” See for instance [this piece from an 1916 _Literary Digest_](https://books.google.com/books?id=TbdZAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22i%20said%20good%20day%2C%20sir%22&pg=PA1788#v=onepage&q=%22i%20said%20good%20day,%20sir%22&f=false) and [Opie Read’s 1896 _An Arkansas Planter_](https://books.google.com/books?id=G-qDrlzwL_4C&dq=%22i%20said%20good%20day%2C%20sir%22&pg=PA266#v=onepage&q=%22i%20said%20good%20day,%20sir%22&f=false). But while Read was a well-known humorist in his day, I didn’t turn up any evidence that this was considered a memorable line in his book and I doubt many people saying “I said ‘Good day, sir!’” today have even heard of _An Arkansas Planter_. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2016, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-day-sir/502448/32 "2016-03-13T17:49:12Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Ebenezer Scrooge says it to his nephew in _A Christmas Carol_, although, to be sure, he says “Good morning!” I believe he also says “I bid you good day, gentlemen!” to the philanthropists soliciting contributions for the poor. This was the first thing that came to my mind. It’s a very polite way of telling someone to fuck off. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2016, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-day-sir/502448/33 "2016-03-13T18:25:51Z")
Didn’t Rufus T. Firefly say it to Ambassador Trentino in _Duck Soup_ (1933)? Or maybe it was the Groucho character in _Monkey Business_ (1931) who said it to the gangster character just before he stepped back into Thelma Todd’s closet. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2016, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-day-sir/502448/34 "2016-03-13T22:58:42Z")
Appears in this [Robot Chicken sketch](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAKtZ_r0V6E) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2022, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-day-sir/502448/35 "2022-05-31T19:47:08Z")
Bumped. William Shakespeare says “Cheerio” repeatedly to get rid of an uninvited fanboy visiting him in retirement in the very good historical drama _All Is True_, which I just saw. ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2022, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-day-sir/502448/36 "2022-05-31T20:08:47Z")
Several have mentioned _Christmas Carol_. There are dozens of adaptations of this work floating around. The first instance I’m aware of the phrase appearing on film is in the 1951 version starring Alastair Sim. The scene where nephew Fred stops by Scrooge’s office to invite him to dine. Scrooge gets frustrated near the end of their interaction when Fred says “Merry Christmas” and dismisses him with a ‘good day, sir’. Then Fred adds ‘And a happy New Year’ and Scrooge explodes raising his voice “GOOD DAY!” ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2022, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-day-sir/502448/37 "2022-06-01T21:18:33Z")
On Everybody Loves Raymond, Ray uses it on his parents after Marie drives the car into his living room. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-day-sir/502448.md?page=1)