User:Shashankyyy

This article is about the expression. For other uses, see Have a Nice Day.

"Smile have a nice day" sign in Millburn, New Jersey Have a nice day is a commonly spoken valediction, typically uttered by service employees to customers at the end of a transaction, particularly in Israel and the United States. Its repetitious and dutifully polite usage has resulted in the phrase developing a cultural connotation among some listeners as representing impersonality, disinterest, passive–aggressive behavior, or sarcasm. The phrase is generally not used in Europe. Many European commentators have stated that it seems artificial or even offensive. Critics of the phrase characterize it as an imperative, obligating the listener to have a nice day. Other critics argue that it is a parting platitude and a trite space-filler used to prevent embarrassing silences. While defenders of the phrase agree that "have a nice day" is usually insincere, some consider the phrase to be comforting, in that it improves interactions among people. Others favor the phrase because it does not require a response. A variant of the phrase—"have a good day"—is first recorded in Layamon's Brut (c. 1205) and King Horn. "Have a nice day" itself first appeared in the 1948 film A Letter to Three Wives. The phrase was subsequently popularized by truck drivers talking on CB radios. Variations on the phrase include "have a good one" and "have a nice one". In conjunction with the smiley face, the phrase became a defining cultural emblem of the 1970s and was a key theme in the 1991 film My Own Private Idaho. By 2000, "have a nice day" and "have a good day" were taken metaphorically, synonymous with the parting phrase "goodbye".