Goodbye Atheists!

Interesting etymology. It's nice to see we've moved on to a less religious saying that's open to all. :)

I was taught that goodbye was actually a bastardized contraction of God be with you not God Bless Ye. Let me expand on this. God Be With You or Godbwy, which overtime got misused and twisted until it became goodbye which of course has no real meaning at all. Ye in middle english actually usually means The not you the, letter Y was pronounced th despite the spelling. Although, in old english ye was sometimes used to indicate the nominclative second person it was always plural, so you wouldn't say God Bless Ye to just one person, you'd say it to a crowd. Your point still holds though that the expression goodbye has religious significance in middle english. That being said words do change meaning over time and, particularly since good has replaced god and bye is now a word unto itself for the majority of people, I doubt even the ACLU could really truly claim that the religious significance of Goodbye still hold true. As an agnostic I say to you Goodbye ;)

Nice post. Thank you for sharing this information. The next time someone says "Bye" to me I'll say the original and longer version "God bless you too." Well, I don't have idea how to know if a person is atheist or not. Anyway, I'll always use "Gob bless ye" from now on.

As an Atheist I have long since stopped saying goodbye. I say see you later. It was nice seeing you and things like that, I refuse to say goodbye to anyone.

Sorry it took me so long to respond here, been Spring cleaning. I did not know that was what goodbye meant, but I will certainly put the information to good use. I have a Nephew, and some others I know who don't believe in God. I love finding out the original meaning to words and their origins. Thanks for sharing Ted

Wow I actually learned something today. I'd be more cheerful when I say good bye then because it has so much meaning now that I understand it's etymology. Thank you very much for enlightening me on that one. God Bless you and Goodbye!

Oh no! I sense more laws and big bro mandating what we say and think! Better let the child abductors out of prison so we can imprison those who say "goodbye" or "merry christmas".. let alone (gasp!) "God bless" (if someone sneezes!)

We know so little! We do not know the origins of a million words, and why would we even care to? As long as we understand the meaning of the word, its alright. Are you hinting that we should deny the atheists a word in the english language? Did you know that the poem 'Ba ba black sheep', which is famous and popular all over the world has serious racial connotation and is originated there, which I do not even want to discuss here! It is obvious once you read the poem and understand it. But do we stop teaching that to our kids or tell them the 'true' meaning of it? It is fine according to me. So many words can be originated with God or religion but these are of little or no concern to the atheist. Amen!!

Now I can bless people without them even knowing it...awesome!

And God Bless Ye, too! That is such a lovely sentiment to be sending someone off with. Considering that many people in the early days were traveling over unguarded roads by wagon or horse where they could be attacked and robbed or killed, I am sure they needed all the protections and blessings they could receive. Wish more people felt the same way today. Modern day has not brought us closer to God. Only made many unbelievers feel that they are immune and without need of Him. So, who do these atheists pray to, when their child is dying or they are in financial need? As they used to say, during World War 1 and 2. There are no atheists in a fox hole. You know what I mean. Be well. And, God Bless You, too.

HOLY SH*T! Really?! I'm never using good bye again. Good thing I was always a fan of "buhbye" and "bye" and hardly used "good bye". Old English people, the people who made up English are seriously very religious.