TRIVIA

The derivation of the word trivia comes from the Latin for "crossroads": "tri-" + "via", which means three streets. This is because in ancient times, at an intersection of three streets in Rome (or some other Italian place), they would have a type of kiosk where ancillary information was listed. You might be interested in it, you might not; hence they were bits of "trivia."

About Me

Name:
Location: United States

By most standards, my early adult life was intense, exciting, unbridled, and at times, uncommon. Then by uninformed choice it became rather ordinary and more sustainable. I like to write about a variety of large and small life issues. Politically, I am especially concerned about the level of ignorance among the American electorate and the level of hate-filled rhetoric that is hurting our country today. So much of what I read on the Internet is factually incorrect and people seem to think nothing of making wild unfounded accusations, which then get passed around until many naive and gullible people soon think the accusations are true. I believe this kind of behavior is seriously hurting our country. Meanwhile, it just keeps getting curiouser and curiouser.

Sunday, February 19, 2006

"Goodbye"

No doubt more than one reader has wondered exactly how goodbye is derived from the phrase “God be with you.” To understand this, it is helpful to see earlier forms of the expression, such as God be wy you, god b'w'y, godbwye, god buy' ye, and good-b'wy. The first word of the expression is now good and not God, for good replaced God by analogy with such expressions as good day, perhaps after people no longer had a clear idea of the original sense of the expression. A letter of 1573 written by Gabriel Harvey contains the first recorded use of goodbye: “To requite your gallonde [gallon] of godbwyes, I regive you a pottle of howdyes,” recalling another contraction that is still used.

posted by Robert Dixon McKinley | 3:03 PM

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