The pandemic has changed how we greet each other

Special To The Washington 3ost

French 3resident (mmanuel 0acron and %ritish 3rime 0inister %oris -ohnson greeted each other with waves and thumbs-up this week. (ven the elbow bump with which -oe %iden and %ernie Sanders opened their mid-0arch debate is a thing of the past. Forget handshakes or hugs. And gestures aren¶t the only rituals learned over a lifetime that have been adapted in mere months since the novel coronavirus began changing the world. 9erbal greetings and leave-takings have evolved, too.

8ntil recently, we could begin a conversation with “How are you"” or “How are you doing"” and e[pect a perfunctory “Fine” or “*ood” in response. We could start an email with “I hope this finds you well,” never e[pecting a comment on that hope, regardless of how well or unwell the recipient happened to be. These greetings are what linguists call “formulaic e[pressions” idiomatic phrases people say in certain circumstances without a thought to their literal meaning.

We might still be using these routini]ed openers if they didn¶t happen to refer to health. In 0yanmar, Cambodia and China, the typical greeting is “Have you eaten"” literally, “Have you eaten rice"” the e[pected reply is “

The literal meaning of our usual openers could be casually ignored when most people¶s health was likely to be fine. If we knew that someone was sick or going through a tough time, we could change our tone and emphasis when saying “How are you"” or say something else. Now, no one takes health for granted, and everyone is going through at best a tough time and possibly an awful one. That forces us to notice the meaning of the words in these greetings ± and to change them. Now it¶s much more common to hear “I hope you¶re managing” or “doing 2.” or “hanging in there” ± or any of myriad other ways of implying what a fellow linguist used parentheses to convey while preserving this familiar formulaic e[pression “I hope you¶re doing as well as one could e[pect under the present circumstances .”

Changes in the ways emails open and close have been downright inspiring. The range of variations is testament to how wonderfully adaptable words can be ± and how creative humans can be in adapting them. Some, for e[ample, use synonyms to emphasi]e what they wish without sounding repetitive “I hope you¶re staying healthy and well.” 2thers indicate that they know the usual opening won¶t apply ± and why “I hope you¶re doing well despite these terrible times.” I received one that acknowledged that everyone is less than well but sought to reassure both receiver and sender that we¶re in this together “I hope you¶re doing better than just µhanging in there,¶ but if, like me, you aren¶t, I suppose that¶s 2. too.”

-ust as greetings have taken new forms, leave-takings have too. The variations in both can be occasions for verbal play, like saying words by saying you won¶t say them, as my sister recently did “and I won¶t say µstay healthy,¶ but hope you do.” (ven the common closing “Take care” has morphed into “Stay safe” or “Stay safe and healthy.”

Noticing how the phrase “Take care” has been adapted to reflect our changed circumstances got me wondering whether the power of words might be harnessed to inspire change too. “Take care” and its reincarnations focus on one person¶s safety and health. In 0arch, when New =ealand 3rime 0inister -acinda Ardern declared a state of national emergency under which non-essential workers would have to self-isolate, she e[plained “

*reetings and farewells will no doubt continue to adapt as circumstances evolve because that¶s the nature of language ± and the way people use it. 0aybe as more of us go out more often, and take part in more activities, conversations and emails will end with “Save lives, wear a mask” or “Stay safe and si[ feet apart.” 2r we could keep it simple and say, as a colleague recently closed an email to me, “Wash hands.”