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We do it over and over again, day after day, and never seem to get enough of it. Albanians do it. Zulus do it. Movie stars and plumbers do it. There is no known culture in the world that doesn’t have customary greetings and a new book from Törbjorn Lundmark sheds new light on the colourful, confusing and amusing ways people interact.

Tales of Hi and Bye: Greeting and Parting Rituals Around the World is about everyday behaviours so commonplace that they slip by without much notice: the way we greet, farewell and refer to each other in social interaction.

People say hi and bye in innumerable languages and countless ways: they wave, bow, curtsey, shake hands, rub noses, hand-kiss and perform a vast array of greeting and farewell rituals, so common and natural that no-one gives it a second thought….until you start watching people….and yourself!

This enjoyable book reveals little-known facts about everyday rituals, including:
• A common Hungarian greeting is ‘I kiss your hand’ – even on the telephone
• In China, food can say hi and bye: there are ‘farewell dishes’ and ‘welcome back’ dishes
• Nearly 100 per cent of Scandinavians answer the telephone not with ‘hello’, but with their name or number
• In some cultures, you are not allowed to say your own name
• One of the most common greetings all over the globe is the eyebrow-flash.

Tales of Hi and Bye is a witty, yet well-researched and informative book for the ‘cultural voyeur’ of people.

‘Lundmark’s unique little book effervesces with intriguing facts and factlets about greeting customs in different cultures around the world, from the Eskimo shoulder strike to the New Zealand ‘hongi’ (nose-touching). It’s guaranteed to entertain and inform – globetrotters and armchair travellers alike.’ Emeritus Professor Pam Peters, Linguistics Department, Macquarie University, Sydney.

Notes to Editors

Tales of Hi and Bye, Törbjorn Lundmark | Hardback 9780521117548 | published October 29 2009 | £13.99 | 264 pages

About the Author

Torbjörn Lundmark is a professional writer, illustrator and cartoonist and the author of several books including children’s books. His most recent book, ‘Quirky QWERTY: the story of the keyboard @ your fingertips’ was published in 2002 by UNSW Press in Australia and subsequently by Penguin Books in New York where it became book of the month.Torbjörn Lundmark was born in Sweden and has called Australia home since 1978. He studied linguistics and Slavonic languages at the University of Uppsala and spent one year at the Philological Faculty at Voronezh University in the former Soviet Union. TL is a lover of languages and is currently learning to read and write Chinese.

About Cambridge University Press

Cambridge University Press was founded by a royal charter granted to the University of Cambridge by King Henry VIII in 1534. It is the oldest printer and publisher in the world, having been operating continuously since 1584, and is one of the largest academic publishers globally. Its purpose is to further the University’s objective of advancing learning, knowledge and research.

Throughout its history, the Press has maintained a reputation for innovation and enterprise, through its use of printing technologies, through publishing the latest research, and through supporting the latest methodologies for teaching and learning.

This year we celebrate 425 years of continuous publishing, a year that also marks the 475th anniversary of King Henry VIII’s grant to Cambridge University Press of ‘Letters Patent’ allowing us to print ‘all manner of books’. 2009 also sees the 800th anniversary of the University of Cambridge, providing an occasion for us to join in celebrating our respective foundations by commemorating the books, people, ideas and achievements that have emerged from this shared history and which continue to inspire and transform the world.