# Good Night -- no, make that Good Evening **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 17, 2002, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-night-no-make-that-good-evening/114442 "2002-06-17T01:53:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-night-no-make-that-good-evening/114442/1 "2002-06-17T01:53:40Z")
It’s 9:00 or 10:00 pm or so. You’re going home for the night. You say to the people, “Good night.” Right? Depends on where you are. When I was learning other languages, I found that saying _Bonne nuit_ or _Buona notte_ or _Buenas noches_ was just not said in those countries at such an early hour. Rather, it’s always the equivalent of “Good evening.” I’m not sure how late it has to get in Europe before you can start saying “Good night” — midnight? No matter how late I stayed out, it always seemed to be “Good evening.” But then, I’m from English-speaking North America where, at school or at work, they say “Good night” as early as 4 or 5 pm if they don’t expect to see you again until the next day. I never felt quite right about saying “good night” while the sun was still up. What do you think is the appropriate time to start calling a night “night”? Personally, I feel that 5 or 6 o’clock is “good evening”, 9 or 10 qualify as “good night,” and 7 or 8 could probably go either way. I never figured out what Europeans were thinking by not saying “good night.” Perhaps the idea was that as long as you’re still out on the street it’s always “evening” and “good night” is only appropriate for when you’re in your pajamas and on the verge of blowing out the candle and climing into bed. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-night-no-make-that-good-evening/114442/2 "2002-06-17T03:38:56Z")
I’ve always thought of Good evening as a greeting and Good night as a farewell. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-night-no-make-that-good-evening/114442/3 "2002-06-17T03:41:00Z")
I’ve always thought of “Good Evening” as a greeting and “Good Night” as a farewell. And “Have a Good Evening” as a farewell definitely implies that the evening isn’t over yet. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-night-no-make-that-good-evening/114442/4 "2002-06-17T03:46:35Z")
I’ve always thought of “Good Evening” as a greeting and “Good Night” as a farewell. And “Have a Good Evening” as a farewell definitely implies that the evening isn’t over yet. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-night-no-make-that-good-evening/114442/5 "2002-06-17T03:51:27Z")
Nice going, **kittenblue**. Here I was all happy thinking I’d gotten three replies, when it was just one in triplicate. How do you get multiple posts? I thought they’d done something to the software or server or something so that it wasn’t possible any more. (Yes, I _tried_ to make a triple post on ATMB, just to be a wise guy. Didn’t work.) ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-night-no-make-that-good-evening/114442/6 "2002-06-17T03:52:27Z")
Apparently my computer is set to “stutter” ---
**Author:** ![robinc308](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@robinc308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robinc308)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-night-no-make-that-good-evening/114442/7 "2002-06-17T04:10:54Z")
I would use good evening as a greeting universally after about 5pm. Goodnight as a farewell after about 8. The major exception would be afterwork and stuff, I might say good night to my collegues on the way out the door. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-night-no-make-that-good-evening/114442/8 "2002-06-17T04:16:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jomo Mojo \* > \*\*Nice going, **kittenblue**. Here I was all happy thinking I’d gotten three replies, when it was just one in triplicate. How do you get multiple posts? Well, first submit when your server is running really, really slow, then press the stop button. Correct your grammar and hit submit again. When, after a few minutes it tells you the page can’t be displayed, hit the back button and see your post still in the reply box. Hit submit again and go to the bathroom. Come back and find all three displayed. Simple, really, but definitely an advanced technique. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-night-no-make-that-good-evening/114442/9 "2002-06-17T04:54:30Z")
I thought only evil or creepy people said "good evening’ Example: _Vincent Price_ :“Goooood eeeeevening…” Evil laughs soon follow after that.:eek: ---
**Author:** ![Jervoise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@Jervoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jervoise)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-night-no-make-that-good-evening/114442/10 "2002-06-17T05:27:09Z")
I’m with **robinc308**. Good evening after the sun has set. Good night only as a farewell. However, I only use “good night” when it’s well and truly dark - after dinner, say. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-night-no-make-that-good-evening/114442/11 "2002-06-17T09:24:58Z")
Everybody who’s responded so far is from the Anglo world, so these ideas look familiar to me. I was just trying to understand how the continental Europeans view this concept.