Time to greet

When I used to teach English to Spanish speakers we had a lot of fun with Good Morning and Good Afternoon. I'd stress with the students that we Brits are often pedantic about the time. At 11:59 it's morning but at 12:01 it's afternoon. Evening is vaguer. Does it really begin at six and run to midnight? In summer surely the evening starts a bit later than on a dismal cold grey day in December? And what about greetings? Spaniards use Good Night when they meet people whilst we Britons don't. In my shebeen going days I used to prove my sobriety to the bouncers at four in the morning (at night?) with a cheery Good Evening. If I'd been a baker or a morning show radio presenter going to work at the same four in the morning I'd probably have greeted my work colleagues with a Good Morning instead.

The word "tarde" is used here to describe both, what Britons call, afternoon and early evening. Most people learning Spanish usually thinks of tarde as translating directly as afternoon. When someone suggests to me that we meet in the tarde my years and years of British training kicks in and I think they mean sometime between three and five whilst they're visualising an early evening drink around eight or nine o'clock. Night starts about then, about nine, but again, it often depends on when you eat your evening meal.

We were watching some afternoon British TV yesterday. People who'd set up businesses in France and Spain were the focus. It's one of those programmes done as a sort of fly on the wall with commentary. In Spain a couple wanted to put Yurts on their land to complement their B&B business. They were waiting for the mayor to talk about planning permission. "He said he'd come in the morning," said the yurt owner, "It's already half past one so I don't suppose he's coming. This is Spain after all". I guffawed because it is, indeed, Spain and in Spain morning lasts till you've eaten lunch. As 2pm is the earliest that you might consider lunching then half past one is still, very much, morning. If someone greets you, at half two with the Spanish version of Good Morning then you know they haven't eaten yet.