[XLI,002,005] CIAO CIAO CIAO

4016, FEBRUARY 01.

SANTA VERDIANA

Usage of CIAO [da WIKIPEDIA]

In contemporary Italian usage, ciao is interchangeable for both an informal hello and goodbye, much like aloha in Hawaiian, salām in Arabic, shalom in Hebrew or annyeong in Korean.
In Italy, ciao is mainly used in informal contexts, i.e. among family members, relatives, friends, in other words, with those one would address with the familiar tu (second person singular, you) as opposed to Lei (second person singular, like the german Sie ) or Voi (second person plural, you) (courtesy form); in these contexts, ciao can be the norm even as a morning or evening salutation, in lieu of buon giorno or buona sera, deemed too formal among friends, relatives, or the very familiar. When used in other contexts, ciao may be interpreted as slightly flirtatious, or a request for friendship or closeness.

In other languages, ciao has come to have more specific meanings. The following list summarizes the spelling and uses of salutations derived from ciao in various languages and countries.

1. Amharic: ቻው, chaw (“goodbye”)
2. Bulgarian: чао, chao (“goodbye”)
3. Catalan: ciao, txao (“goodbye”)
4. Czech: čau (“hello” or “goodbye”) and čau čau (goodbye)
5. Dutch: ciao (“goodbye”)
6. English: ciao (“goodbye”)
7. Esperanto: ĉaŭ (“hello” or “goodbye”)
8. Estonian: “tšau”, also “tšauki” – sometimes pronounced with “s” (“hello” or “goodbye”)
9. Finnish: “tsau”, also “tsaukki” (“hello” or “goodbye”)
10. French: ciao, tchao (mostly used to say “goodbye”). “Tchao”, in French is argotic. In 1983, this word used in the title of a very popular movie: “So long, Stooge“, in French: “Tchao, pantin”.
11. German: ciao, tschau (“goodbye”, in Switzerland also “hello”)
12. Greek: τσάο, tsao (“goodbye”)
13. Hebrew: צ’או chao (“goodbye”)
14. Hungarian: csáó or the more informal csá or cső (“hello” or “goodbye”)
15. Interlingua: ciao (“goodbye”)
16. Italian: ciao (“hello”,”hi” or “goodbye”) also “ciao ciao” (bye bye).
17. Japanese: チャオ, chao (“hello” or “hi”) also チャオチャオ chao chaoσ (bye bye).
18. Latvian: čau (“hello” or “goodbye”)
19. Lithuanian: čiau (“goodbye”, rarely “hello”)
20. Macedonian: чао, čao (“goodbye”)
21. Malay: چاو دولو, cau dulu (“goodbye”); used informally in Malaysia by the leaving party. The word “cau” can be used informally as a verb which means “leave”
22. Maltese: ċaw (“goodbye”); also ċaw ċaw (“bye bye”)
23. Montenegrin: ћао, ćao (“goodbye” or “hello”)
24. Polish: ciao [ˈt͡ɕa.ɔ] (rare)
25. Portuguese: tchau (“goodbye”); in Portugal xau is also used, without the “t” sound, especially in written informal language such as SMS or web chats
26. Romanian: ciao (“hello” or “goodbye”); it is often written as ceau although this form is not officially in the Romanian vocabulary
27. Russian: чао, chao; (“goodbye”); also jokingly – чао-какао, chao-kakao (from чай — “tea” and какао — “cocoa”)
28. Serbo-Croatian: ћао, ćao (“goodbye” or “hello”)
29. Sicilian: ciau (“hello”, “hi”)
30. Slovak: čau (variations: čauko, čaves, čauky, čaf); mostly as “goodbye”, but stands in for “hello” primarily in informal written communication (text messages, emails) and phone calls because it is more character-efficient/shorter and more hip than the Slovak “ahoj”
31. Slovene: čau or čaw (“hello” or “goodbye”); also čaw čaw (“bye bye”)
32. Somali: ciao (“goodbye”)
33. Spanish: in Argentina and Uruguay the word chau is the most common expression for “goodbye”. In Spain, where “adios” (with a religious etymology as “goodbye”) is the common expression, a few young people would use chao as an original way of greeting.
34. Swiss-German: ciao/Tschau (“hello” or “goodbye”)
35. Turkish: çav (“goodbye”)
36. Venetian: ciào (“hello” or “goodbye”)

In some languages, such as Latvian, the vernacular version of ciao has become the most common form of informal salutation.
The dominant use in Latin America uses the term solely as farewell [when you leave, n.o.r] rather than as a greeting [when you arrive,  n.oooooooooooo.r. – Note of the Reporter 😀 ].

The greeting has often several variations and minor uses. In Italian and Portuguese, for example, a doubled ciao ciao/tchau tchau means specifically “goodbye”;  whilst the tripled or quadrupled word (but said with short breaks between each one) means “Bye, I’m in a hurry!”.

Pronounced with a long [aː], it means “Hello, I’m so glad/amazed to meet you!” (be it sincere or sarcastic) in Italian, and a sarcastic or humorous use of “bye!” (cf. American English) in Portuguese. That is not a limited use, as it can also be used in Italian to express sarcasm at another person’s point of view about one topic, especially in case that opinion may sound outdated, sì, ciao! meaning “that’s totally weird!”.

In all these cases, however, the special meaning is conferred more by the vocal inflection than by the modified use.