so long, and thanks for all the fish
- idiom
- Literature
:
hasta luego, y gracias por todo el pescado
- When he retired, Tom waved and said, 'so long, and thanks for all the fish,' making his coworkers laugh.
Examples
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Bidding farewell to her classmates, she signed her yearbook with 'so long, and thanks for all the fish.'
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He waved goodbye and said, so long, and thanks for all the fish!
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As the meeting ended abruptly, I joked, 'so long, and thanks for all the fish,' before leaving the room.
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After the party, she smiled and said, so long, and thanks for all the fish.
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As the meeting ended abruptly, I joked, 'so long, and thanks for all the fish,' before leaving the room.
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Bidding farewell to her classmates, she signed her yearbook with 'so long, and thanks for all the fish.'
-
When he retired, Tom waved and said, 'so long, and thanks for all the fish,' making his coworkers laugh.
Synonyms
∞
8.4
A friendly way to say goodbye when you expect to meet again
∞
1.0
Words people say when they leave each other
279
1.1
A friendly informal way to say goodbye when leaving
199
1.9
A speech or action that says goodbye and wishes someone well
59
1.0
Words or actions people use when they leave
52
7.6
A casual spoken goodbye said when you leave someone
34
7.2
A word people use to say goodbye
24
9.3
A final goodbye you say when leaving for a long time
17
8.9
A friendly way to say goodbye
1
9.9
A playful word people use to say goodbye
A friendly old-fashioned British way to say goodbye
To say goodbye in a warm, loving way when you must leave
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
so + long, + and + thanks + for + all + the + fish
The segment 'so long' is a transparent farewell and the literal meanings of 'thanks for all the fish' are also clear, so a B1 learner would likely infer a polite/cheerful goodbye. However, the full phrase functions as a culturally specific, humorous formula (a Douglas Adams reference) and its ironic sense of ‘thanks for everything’ and pop-culture connotations are not predictable from the constituents alone. This mixture of directly interpretable parts and an unpredictable pragmatic/cultural layer makes the expression only partially transparent.
Etymology
So long, and thanks for all the fish comes from Douglas Adams' funny book The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, where the dolphins leave Earth and send a polite note that says 'so long, and thanks for all the fish'. So today people use it as a joking way to say 'goodbye' and 'thanks' when they are leaving.