Wishing you well

One of the things you learn in France is how to wish everyone well. French people are very keen that everyone around them should be constantly enjoying themselves. You can tell this by the way they end their conversations:

“Well, goodbye and bonne journée” (Have a good day).

“Thank you very much. Bonne soirée.” (Have a good evening.)

“Well, I’m done for the week. Bon week-end.” (Have a good weekend.)

"Bon week-end à tous !"

A French person worth their salt wouldn’t dream of finishing a conversation without wishing their interlocutor a good something – a good day, a good evening, a good weekend, good holidays, a good journey home, etc. If there isn’t an immediately obvious good something to wish, the speaker will go into a slight panic, scrabbling around for a solution.

“Well, have a good… have a good… have a good… rest of the… time… until we see each other again,” they will force out, hovering nervously by the door, unable to leave until they have finished the sentence.

It’s a remarkably contagious habit. Although it is not really a feature of anglophone culture, English speakers are influenced startlingly quickly when they arrive in France. They may never have wished anyone so much as a good day in their lives, but within days of arriving in France, they are spouting “bon après-midi”, “bonne fin de journée” and “bonne semaine” with the best of them. It becomes so ingrained that English-speakers start using it on each other, and sometimes end up tying themselves into terrible knots when English simply doesn’t have an appropriate equivalent expression:

“OK, um, well, have a good what’s left of the day” or “So, enjoy the, um, the time until I next see you.”

To be sure, we in the English-speaking world do wish people well on occasion – “Have a good weekend” is heard frequently enough – but the difference between us and the French is the sheer variety, not to mention the unexpectedness, of some of the wishes.

The ticket-seller at the cinema hopes that you enjoy the film: “Bonne séance!”  she says as you walk off clutching your ticket.

The waiter in the restaurant hopes you enjoy the meal: “Bonne dégustation!” he says, as he places the dish in front of you.

Your friend hopes that you enjoy your journey home after visiting her: “Bonne route!” she says as she waves you off.
Your housemate hopes you enjoy preparing dinner. "Bonne cuisine!" he nods as he wanders into the kitchen to find you chopping onions.

Your colleague hopes you enjoy reading the document he has just given you: “Bonne lecture!” he says as he places it in your hand.

And my personal favourite: the girl working at the fitting rooms in the clothes shop hopes you enjoy trying on the clothes:  “Bonne essayage!” she says as she indicates a cubicle.

The list goes on. When someone is about to start a day of hard work, you wish them bon courage. If the work is not too hard but is work nevertheless, you simply wish them bon travail. As your colleagues announce they have had enough for the morning and they’re off to find some lunch, you wish them bon appétit. When you say goodbye to someone before they go off on holiday, you wish them bonnes vacances. If your friend is getting ready to go on a night out, you wish them bon divertissement.

Times-of-the-day wishes are particularly useful because they are so multipurpose and can provide a neat end to any conversation if you can’t think of anything original to wish the other person well on.

“Bonne journée” (have a good day)

“Bon après-midi” (have a good afternoon)

“Bonne fin de journée” (have a good end-of-the-day)

“Bonne soirée” (have a good evening)

“Bon week-end” (have a good weekend)

“Bon dimanche” (have a good Sunday)

Steven Clarke, author of the merciless caricatures of French life A Year in the Merde; Make Amour, Not War and Talk to the Snail, noticed it too. When they were guillotining people during the French Revolution, he comments, the executioner probably wished his victims “Bonne exécution” as he manhandled them onto the block.

The equivalent compulsion in England is a deep-seated need to end a conversation by referring to the next time you will see the person.

“OK, see you next week.”

“Have a good weekend. See you on Monday.”

“It was nice meeting you. I’m sure I’ll see you the next time our mutual friend has a party.”

“See you again soon.”

Or simply “See you.” Even if the person who says it is working in a shop and will probably never see the customer again. “See you.”

The average English person has a pathological horror of pronouncing the word “goodbye”, except on the phone. It sounds too final, too definitive, too much reason for sentimentality. It amuses me to toy with English people by ending conversations with “OK, bye” and waiting for them to respond with a disturbed “Yeah, seeya”.

The English language could do with an equivalent to the handy French phrase that you use if you are saying a definitive goodbye to someone who you know you will never see again. In this way you can cut the awkwardness of “We must stay in touch” or “Let’s exchange contact details” when you know full well that neither of you has the slightest intention of staying in contact, by simply wishing the other person well for the rest of their life with a neat “Bonne continuation”.