Have a nice day

The Oxford English Dictionary recorded the earliest uses of one of the phrase's variants—"have a good day"—as being "Habbeð alle godne dæie" in ''Layamon's Brut (c. 1205) and "Rymenhild, have wel godne day" in King Horn'' (1225). According to Roland Dickison of California State University, "have a good day" first appeared in Geoffrey Chaucer's 1387 The Canterbury Tales: "And hoom wente every man the righte way, there was namoore but 'Fare wel, have a good day. Routinely employed by Chaucer in his literary works, "have a good day" disappeared for several centuries before its revival. William Safire of The New York Times wrote that "have a nice day" first appeared in the 1948 film A Letter to Three Wives. According to Safire, Carol Reed of WCBS-TV spread the phrase in the New York metropolitan area in 1964 by closing her weather reports with "have a happy day", a variant of "have a nice day". The 1960s saw the phrase "have a good day" become prevalent and supersede "happy day". In 1970, "have a nice city" was a mayoralty slogan in San Francisco. They carried a black banner that read "POW/MIA Families Never Have a Nice Day". They received scowls and jeers from a hostile crowd. One woman said, "They should be shot for bringing this here." In the early 1970s, Philadelphian brothers Murray and Bernard Spain designed and sold products including bumper stickers and coffee mugs that each contained the yellow smiley face, usually attributed to Harvey Ball. They later changed the phrase to "Have a nice day". The 1991 film My Own Private Idaho ironically ends with the parting phrase "have a nice day", which for the fourth time invokes the smiley face. Smiley faces represent optimism and appear to ask the characters, who are characterized as "marginal figures", how nice their days are. While traveling to Idaho, the protagonists' motorcycle breaks down, and one of the characters, Mike, gazes at the sun on the horizon and links it with the motto "have a nice day". He says, "I've been on this road before. Looks like a fucked-up face. Like it's saying 'have a nice day' or something." While the men are jogging, a truck splashes mud into Forrest's face, and the salesman gives him a yellow shirt to wipe the mud off. Forrest rolls up the shirt and hands it back, saying "have a nice day". Unrolling the shirt, the man finds a smiley face outlined on it. In September 2005, Bon Jovi released the album Have a Nice Day. The album cover contains a red smiley face which guitarist Richie Sambora stated echoes its title song. Sambora explained that "It's [like] 'Have a nice day; get out of my face'—therefore the smirk. To me, it's much more of a Clint Eastwood 'Have a nice day' than a smiley face 'Have a nice day.'" ==Usage==

The phrase "have a nice day" is typically spoken by service employees or clerks to customers at the end of a transaction. A mercantile method of expressing "thank you" as in "thank you for shopping with us" or "thank you for using our service", it is commonly used among people in the United States and by retailers in New Zealand and elsewhere. In the 1970s, the American supermarket chain Kmart opened a store in Brisbane, Australia. The workers were trained to say, "Thank you for shopping at K-Mart. Have a nice day." Other versions of "have a nice day" are "have a good one" and "have a nice one." The phrase can have passive–aggressive connotations, and can be caustically used to end transactions with abusive customers. The speaker may also use the phrase ironically, in either a purposeful or unintentional manner. Deeming the word "you" as moderating the imperative, Sussex stated that the word "you" causes the phrase to seem like a mixture of a command and a hope. He wrote that using "you" in imperatives is more common with people under 25. In crime On July 14, 1979, the Chicago Tribune published an article titled "This is a holdup; have a nice day" about a Minneapolis robber; while robbing the First Federal Savings & Loan Association of Chicago, the man gave a note to the bank teller that said "Thank you, and have a nice day". On November 3, 2007, two robbers equipped with handguns stole money from a kiosk at a Vale, North Carolina store; the Hickory Daily Record called them "courteous crooks" because after the theft, they told people to "have a nice day". Before the Binghamton shooting on April 3, 2009, the perpetrator sent a rambling diatribe against the police to News 10 Now; the letter concluded with the chilling message "COP BRiNG ABOUT THiS SHOOTiNG COP MUST RESPONSiBLE. AND YOU HAVE A NiCE DAY". In Israel "Have a nice day" is frequently used in the Israeli retail and service industries. Jerry Levin wrote in his 2005 book West Bank Diary: Middle East Violence as Reported by a Former American Hostage about a woman in a coffee shop telling him to "have a nice day" after he purchased a sweet roll and coffee. Levin stated that there is also a "grimmer version of the pervasive pleasantry". After an Israeli soldier destroyed the memory card of Levin's camera, the soldier told him with a jocular smirk, "have a nice day". In 2005, the Mosawa Center for Arab Rights in Israel paid for ads on television and radio stations in Israel. In the television ads, the Arabic phrase for "have a nice day" would flash onto the screen in black letters and on a red background. Immediately following the Arabic phrase would be a Hebrew phrase that said, "Are you already against it without even knowing what it says? All we wanted to say is have a nice day." In recent years, it is more common to use the phrase "Annyeonghi gaseyo" to say goodbye in Korean shops. In Europe Europeans generally feel the phrase "have a nice day" is fake and that the speaker is solely interacting with the listener for business purposes. The phrase "have a nice day" spread to Britain from the United States. In Britain, the variants "have a fine day" and "have a good day" are frequently used in place of "have a nice day". In their 2002 book Different Games, Different Rules, Haru Yamada and Deborah Tannen recalled teaching a class in London, where a student construed "have a nice day" to be insincere. The student said that Americans "say things like that with this big fake smile on their face, and they don't really mean it". Not having the context of the metaphor, the student took the phrase literally and was unable to discern the intended cordiality. Conversely, when Americans visit stores in Britain where the salespeople engage not in "have a nice day" salesmanship, Americans regard British as lacking customer service. Browning explained that in Britain, people assume that the day will be horrible—even catastrophic. He wrote that for the United States though, "nice days and the having thereof are written into the constitution". The French also concur that the phrase is insincere. Author Natalie Schorr wrote that the French frequently say "bonne journée"—"good day" in French—and do not consider it to be insincere. Schorr explains that "bonne journée" is a "gracious formule de politesse", similar to merci and ''s'il vous plaît''. However, "have a nice day" sounds like a trite phrase spoken by a telemarketer. In Sweden, Lennart Fridén, a member of the Parliament of Sweden, lamented in a January 1995 speech to Parliament the usage of "ha en bra dag"—"have a nice day" in Swedish. Fridén stated that the increased usage of English loan expressions like "ha en bra dag" "impairs our sense of language and style". He proposed a motion that an authoritative body, working in conjunction with linguistic institutions, be delegated the job of "caring for the Swedish language"; the motion did not pass. The Boston-born American author Edith Shillue wrote in her 2003 book Peace Comes Dropping Slow that when the Irish stereotyped Americans, they tended to use the phrase "have a nice day". While lodging at a house in Ireland, Shillue found a drawing on the wall for American visitors like her. Drawn by her host's daughters, the picture had the phrase "Have a ______ Day", with a smiley faced affixed instead of the word "nice". In the United States According to the Handbook of Hispanic Cultures in the United States, "[t]enga un nice day" is an example of Cuban Spanglish. This is distinguished from Chicano Spanish, in that the Chicano second-generation and beyond, who are inclined to code-switch, generally do not speak in the formal address form of "tenga". In 1979, a New York judge sentenced a man to a seven- to ten-year jail term at the Auburn State Prison for committing a robbery. The judge's final words were "You are hereby remanded to the custody of the sheriff's department for delivery to the custody of state officials. Have a nice day." Jack Sheehan of WKRT stated that the convict "almost sank to his knees. The phrase had worked its magic." =="Have a Nice Day" culture==

Sandi Mann, a business psychologist at the University of Central Lancashire, defines the "Have a Nice Day" culture as filled with "fake smiles, forced bonhomie, and meaningless demands by workers to 'have a nice day'". Managers compel their employees to be attentive and affable with customers despite the fact that some employees do not feel these emotions. Sandi Mann concludes from her research that the "Have a Nice Day" culture will prevail, becoming used by more companies and countries. In the service industry, for example, she explains that products have become more uniform over the past few decades. Thus, the sole way for companies to distinguish themselves is to have better customer service. She notes that there are positive and negative effects. A positive effect is that it is beneficial for business and for people who enjoy fake displays. In an interview for the Wall Street Journal, an employee of a telemarketing company, was called a son of a bitch. Clenching his teeth, he responded "Thank you very much, you have a nice day." The stress of suppressing their feelings and faking cheerfulness caused people like the telemarketer to feel insincere and phony. Individuals affected by the "Have a Nice Day" syndrome must carry out emotional labor, which could lead to diminished self-esteem, depression, and cynicism. Criticism Linguistically, "have a nice day" is a command in that the subject, the pronoun you, is intimated. It could be regarded as an exhortation to achieve an outcome that the recipient has no power to influence. However, it is also possible to interpret the phrase as a contraction of "I hope that you have a nice day". Kerry LePage wrote in his 2004 book Some Day Never Comes that he chooses to have a nice day based on his own choice, not that of another person. J. Broad wrote in his 2007 book Some Day Never Comes that the phrase causes people to feel they have an obligation to have a nice day. According to author John Tschohl, the tediousness of the phrase is exemplified by employees uttering the words so faintly as to be barely audible. The phrase is occasionally used in an ironic manner when others have been disrespectful or have negatively impacted the speaker. In Detroit, a supermarket started a program to have its cashiers tell every customer to "have a nice day" after completing their transactions. After conducting surveys, they realized that more than half of the customers were unaware of whether the clerk had said the phrase. In addition, a number of customers commented that they despised being told to "have a nice day". In a 2006 study, researchers at Frankfurt University discovered that people who must smile and say "have a nice day" in their jobs are more prone to illness. Flight attendants, waiters, and call center operators, as well as others who are forced to act cheerfully, are more likely to become depressed. This can lead to decreased immune system function. Australian Andrew Biggs of the Bangkok Post wrote that in the past, the phrase was heard exclusively in Hollywood movies and American soap operas. He lamented that by the 1970s, Aussie teenagers were compelled to tell customers to "have a nice day", a "blatant American cliche". Biggs stated that "have a nice day" is "an idiom that's been mashed and mangled over the decades". Paul V. Marshall, the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Bethlehem, concurred, writing in the Reading Eagle that he prefers "thank you" to "have a nice day" or "have a great day" even though "thank you" has a "host of socially acceptable responses". He stated that when people say "thank you", they admit that they are dependent on others, which leads to a healthier, safer society. Usage of the term has been compared to inserting the phrase "you know" or the word "like" in sentences. William Safire of The New York Times wrote that when the speaker of the phrase is genuine and maintains eye contact, the act is a "social asset and a note of civility" in a busy world. Satirical commentator Russell Baker wrote in the Chicago Tribune that he did not know Ma Bell was waning until she began using the phrase "have a nice day". Miss Manners wrote in her 1990 book ''Miss Manners' Guide for the Turn-of-the-Millennium that although the phrase was trite, she wondered whether there was "so much deeply felt good will" permeating through the world that shallow friendliness ought to desist. She stated that for her, saying "goodbye" is sufficient because it expresses the same well-wishing farewell sentiment. Leil Lowndes wrote in her 2009 book How to Instantly Connect with Anyone'' that if someone says "have a nice day", the recipient should refrain from sarcastically responding "Thanks, but I have other plans" or "Gee, I was planning on having a miserable one, but now that you mention it, I think I'll have a nice one." Lowndes suggested that the response merely be "You, too." Defense Carol Swiderski of the Chicago Tribune wrote that although saying "have a nice day" may not be sincere, the speaker has acknowledged that the recipient is there. She argued "[h]ave we become so analytic that we can't accept these little niceties without asking ourselves, 'Did he really mean it? Does she really care if I have a nice day?'" Writing that society has become so automated that going through a check-out line at a grocery store without having made eye contact or spoken with the checker is possible, Swiderski favored "insincerely meant human kindness to a robot". Corbett favored the phrase to the inquiries of the shopkeepers about his life; he preferred "have a nice day" because it did not entail a response. William F. Wyatt Jr. of the Chicago Tribune wrote that "have a nice day" used to be new and "fill[ed] a needed slot". "Goodbye", he stated, inappropriately indicates that salespeople are intimate with customers they do not know and would seem forced. "Farewell", Wyatt said, would feel abnormal and could only be employed in an ironic context. The close of a transaction needed an oral ending. "Have a nice day" was the apt phrase for those who serve people they do not know to end a transaction. ==Notes and references==

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