Better Ways to Say, `Have a Nice Day' -

Thank you, members of Levey's Legions, for buying in and weighing in. Thanks to your submissions, we can bury "Have a nice day" right here and now.

In my March 24 column, I lamented the reflexiveness, repetitiveness and occasional insincerity of that phrase. I have nothing against nice days or those who wish them upon us, I wrote. It would just be nice to have a less labored, less hackneyed alternative.

Could readers supply one? I threw open the gates -- and hundreds of you walked through. Here are the ideas and sayings that, in my humble judgment, should leap to the head of the line.

"Go in a good way" - Angela Corley, who says it's a favorite of Native Americans.

"Ciao" -- from the Italian, of course. Thanks to Albert Materazzi, of Bethesda.

" `Mind your jollies,' with a lilt in your voice, gets many a grin. Try it," suggests Fifi Chase.

"Have a safe day" -- B.J. Settles.

"Keep the faith" -- Bill Zeigler and Aurelia de Rubis.

"Buongiorno" -- Sandy Fineberg, a receptionist at DynCorp in Alexandria, who says she uses it to excellent effect in her working life.

"Safe home" -- Emily Graves, who attends Catawba College in Salisbury, N.C.

"Be of good cheer" -- Roy Millenson, of Bethesda.

Gretta Magnus takes the cake for responses to "Have a nice day." She replies: "You find one for me, I'll have it!"

"G'day, mate" -- from Australian slang. Thanks to Ed T. Barron.

"Asalaam-alaikum!" -- Amina Shafi, president of the Islamic Awareness Club at Robert E. Lee High School in Northern Virginia. The expression translates as: "May peace be upon you!"

A plain old, "Be well" -- Tom Kreitzberg, of Silver Spring.

"What ever happened to `So long'?" asks Mike Forman.

"A former boss of mine would tell me, `Don't get locked up,' " writes Robert Worden, of Annapolis.

"Make it a good day!" -- Mabel Hazelock first, then several others very shortly.

"Stay well" -- Jan Stoorza, of Rock Point.

A mock-arrogant "Glad you got to see me!" -- L.L., of Lorton.

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"Good luck in the lottery" -- Tyuana Butler.

As a comeback to H.A.N.D., Gail McCreary, of Rockville, recommends the line her 83-year-old godmother uses: "If I don't, it will be my own fault!"

To friends at work, Nancy H. Cioffi will say, "Don't work too hard." To other friends, it's, "See you later."

"Good to see you," which Lissa Soergel sees as far more sincere and far less patronizing than alternatives.

Another snappy reply to H.A.N.D.: "No, thanks, I had one a couple of years ago" -- Lt. Col. John C. Kunich, of Arlington.

"Live long and prosper" -- Michael T. Roberts, of Linthicum, Md.

"Keep it between the ditches" -- Karl Sax, who says his second choice is the famous line from the TV show "Hill Street Blues": "Be careful out there."

"No wild parties while I'm gone" -- Deanna Lavanty, of Olney, who says she has perfected this line on her 80-year-old grandmother, Delphine Duncan, of Darnestown.

"Have a day" -- Marjohn Heath, who says people who hear this line are delighted with the freedom to have "whatever type of day they may choose." Donna Will, of Herndon, suggested this one, too.

"Have a blessed day" -- Paul Good, who says it may be too religious for some tastes. Yet Paul recalls an Orange Line Metro operator who used this phrase over the loudspeaker in the late 1980s, to a good reception.

Another curmudgeonly reply, this one from Bob Noyer, of Winchester: "Every day above ground is a nice day."

"Hasta man~ana" (it means "until tomorrow" in Spanish) -- Ron Passalacqua.

"Don't overdo" -- Charles Withington, of Centreville, Md.

Finally, "Have a nice life" -- Jason Juffras.

We will try like the dickens, Jason. Thank you one and all, and have a nice . . . almost!

Will it never end?

Dale Otterness, of Arlington, writes that his wife, Linda, was on the Capital Beltway one recent morning, heading from the Tysons Corner area toward what's left of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. She saw a car going unusually slowly in one of the middle lanes -- so slow that cars were bailing out to the left and the right to get around it.

As Linda went past, "She catches a glimpse of the woman [driver] flossing her teeth," Dale writes. He adds, bitingly:

"That sure seems to be a two-handed operation."

Flynn McCoy, of Reston, says he always looks forward to July 4. That's the day he has to explain to his kids that they can't buy firecrackers, but the government can buy nuclear weapons.

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