Taboo mistake no. 1

[Précis. The word _informations_ does not exist in English. This is a rule you can count on unless you are facing criminal proceedings.]

I apologize to all those students I defenestrated because they made one of two taboo mistakes when speaking English in my presence. A quick tour today through Czech web sites shows that this error is finally being made at low and remote levels. That is banks, government offices, large businesses--they have all rooted out and destroyed the blight. Only a site from Humpolec, or the Czech American Akita (dog breed) Club, or an obscure pension somewhere near the Polish border keep the virus alive. I hope the illness won't rise again and infect the admirable Czech accomplishments in multilingualism. So the medicine I and others have tried to apply to the infection seems to have worked, mostly.

What is that mistake? that blight, virus, illness, infection? Why, I am surprised you are asking. One word: _informations_. Yes, it drove me to distraction, and for some students they suffered a fall from my grace, if not the second floor window. _Information_ is non-count. You can't have an information and you can't have informations. Not even the Brits with their collective nouns with plural form verbs make this mistake.

"The team play well" does not mean you can say "The information are enlightening" and be counted correct. (In British and American English "The team play well" is correct. In the case of American English, you must mean by saying this that the team is a number of individuals considered as such, not a singular group. In American English the almost universal form is, "The team plays well.")

The clever and ever-skeptical Czech will object with the touchstone sentence in answer to a direct or authoritative statement: "It depends." Okay, _informations_ does exist. I confess it does. But no one except lawyers and judges might use this form of the word "for issuing indictments for certain types of crimes or for certain types of anti-corruption investigations". (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_%28formal_criminal_charge.) By no means is _informations_ in common use. I dare say you should and I will never use this form.

All clear? We are still on the correct path? No more use of the word _information_ in the (almost) non-existent plural. I still threaten defenestration if I hear it.

Oh, am I not going to tell you the second taboo to avoid my wrath? No, I have done with preaching and teaching . . . unless, of course, I hear you say . . .

Have a nice time.

[Précis. "Mijte se hezky!" does not translate into English as "Have a nice/good time," but you can use this sentence in your leave-taking if you know what the other person will be doing. "Have a nice time" always has a reference to something specific you know about the other person's plans because s/he told you. The English equivalent of "Mijte se hezky!" is probably something like "Enjoy life."]

Two people meet on the street. They know each other. They chat about nothing for a few minutes--small talk, you know. They part and one says to the other, "Have a nice time." What does the person who says this know about the other person?

A. Something specific about what the other person will do next or sometime later.
B. Nothing, just saying goodbye and wishing the other person well.

The correct answer is A, Something. The one who says "Have a nice time" knows what the other person will do next, or where s/he is going, or what his or her plans are. In other words, "Have a nice time" has a reference to something known by both people. Always.

So when you want to say goodbye to someone, do not say "Have a nice time" unless you know something specific about what will happen with the other person. "Have a nice time" is not a substitute for "Have a nice day" or "See you later," etc. It is a substitute for goodbye only if you both know something about what's next for one person.

Can one say "You too!" in reply? Sure, if the other person knows something specific about your near-future activity.

The misuse of this farewell is so common in the Czech Republic that foreigners who have lived here for some time probably just ignore its misuse, which doesn't make it correct.

How can one learn this fine point of English usage? First, the Internet will not help you except that you will not find "Have a nice day" as a farewell or leave-taking expression. Examples of different expressions of this type appear here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parting_phrase#Generic_ways_to_say_goodbye

And here.

http://www.fluentu.com/english/blog/say-goodbye-english/

If you do find "Have a nice day" as a recommended way of saying goodbye, you are probably looking at a web site or forum where non-native speakers are giving other non-native speakers advice, or their guesses as to what is proper English usage and what is not. (Example, https://dewisudjia.wordpress.com/2010/12/22/expressions-of-leave-taking/.)

But, you object, even Radio Prague (http://old.radio.cz/en/html/living_pozdravy.html), a trusted source for cultural and linguistic bits, says "many Czechs say 'Mijte se!', or its informal equivalent 'Mij se!', which means 'take care'. An nicer way of saying this is 'Mijte se hezky!', which means 'have a good time!'" And the resident interpreter in my house says there is no referent, just a general "enjoy whatever."

So here is the answer for the prevalence of the misuse of "Have a nice time." It is likely a matter of translating a language and culture directly into English without knowing how English speakers would say the same thing Czechs want to when using Czech.

Now you know your homework: Find a way in English to say the same thing you do in Czech. Have a nice time (doing that!).

Postscript. Here is a two-word scramble answer, one of many possible answers.

Eefijlnoy