Why Morning is Broken

Hello!
Hello! (Photo credit: Major Clanger)

Well Good Morning Sir, and how are you today?” was pretty much the standard greeting from all the hotel staff during my stay in Boston and they said it in a way that made me think that they meant it.

And how that contrasts with the perfunctory British greeting of “Morning”, well that is if  you get a greeting at all from people as we are now pretty adept at ignoring people as we pass them.

Where has our will to greet someone gone to? Why don’t we want to express some simple pleasantries that might even be accompanied by a smile? The American greeting I experienced were so much warmer and despite all the cynicism that we British often have about Americans, it really felt genuine and warm.

Two other greetings that stood out for me included:

  • “Wow: just look at you”
  • “Hey, you’re looking really great this morning”

Both were expressed in a manner that just drew people together and made for far better conversation starts than the banal “Morning” you might get in this country.

Since then I’ve tried hard to expand my own greeting from “morning” to include the “Good” and you know what: it’s hard. Somehow “Morning” has become our default and the longer version is just too much of a mouthful for us. But I will keep working at it. I think it does have an impact not least of which is to get people feeling good about themselves and each other.

Have a nice day!

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