badbye

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   Said in reaction to a departure involving painful emotions.

   • Goodbye. / Then I don’t know what’s so good about it. / Then badbye or just bye. / Yes, that’s probably just a goodbye. / Bye, then? / I wish we didn’t have to say bye. / We didn’t say bye. / We said “badbye” and “just bye” and “then bye.”
   • The distant thump of the front door. Gone. She didn’t even go to the window to watch him walk away. / And I cannot let you in. / What kind of a woman falls for a grieving man? / Badbye.
2. 2

   The acknowledgement of a departure involving such negative emotions.

   • She walked to the railing where airport people, who waited to wave goodbyes (and even badbyes) to their loved (and hated) ones, leaned.
   • I remember saying goodbye to all of my friends. But, I was telling lies, it wasn’t a goodbye at all, it was a badbye.
   • Her last words to him: Don’t hurt anyone else. But did she mean: Don’t hurt me. / That wasn’t a goodbye. It was a badbye.

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