Goodnight

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My first day on the job, as I was shutting down my computer, one of my co-workers passed by and called out "Goodnight!"

I started laughing.

I thought for sure she was joking. It was only 5 o'clock! We still had another three hours of day light for all sorts of activity, and bedtime wasn't for another 5 hours, why on earth was she wishing me goodnight?

But somewhere over time I started saying it, too. Not because I thought it made any more sense, but because that is what we say at 5 o'clock in the 9 to 5 world.

I figured it was just one of those things that showed a gaping hole in the sufficiency of the English language. What other terms would you say to someone whom you have seen all day today and will see all day tomorrow?

And then today it happened.

Night-time came before 5 o'clock.

As I sat at my desk and looked out at the thousands of cars making their evening commute with their headlights on, I wanted to say "Hey! I think I got gypped! Somebody stole some of the hours from my day!"

But instead, I shut down my computer, turned out my lamp, and called out "Goodnight!"

I just want to say... to all of you Southern Hemisphere types out there... I hope you are enjoying my daylight.

Comments

serapio said…
Did you know that all of China is in one time zone? The poor people in Urumqi and Lhasa have their clocks set to Beijing time! So these days in Urumqi, the sun comes up at about 8:45 am, and sets at 6:00 pm. But people in China are used to doing things at weird times. Many people here in Jinhua get up at 6 or 7 in the morning! And most of them eat dinner at like 5:00 pm! Crazy, no?
7:26 AM
slowlane said…
And now I ask: What time to YOU do those things?
6:08 PM
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