Just like the way “Happy new month,” became a regular greeting, we started hearing, “How was your night?” 😲 No way! You did not just ask me that question.
To begin with, it seems like a strange question to ask under normal circumstances, and most especially between acquaintances or strangers. (There was this security guard at one of the banks, who would always welcome me with that phrase, and one day I just couldn’t take it and explained to him the absurdity of the question and offered him some alternatives.
Ideally, one ought to be sleeping at night, so if I were to ponder on that question, I would really not know how my night was, except that perhaps I slept soundly, in which case, should I answer that I slept like a baby; or maybe not – for whatever reason best known to me.
On the other hand, “how was your night?” could be an appropriate question to ask if it came from someone who was aware of how my night might have been based on the kind of relationship we have, or the situation that existed prior to my bedtime.
Lastly, it would be the kind of question you’d hear a lot in the hospital, where a patient’s condition overnight is of utmost concern.
So just before you join the bandwagon, how about asking along the lines of “hope you had a good night’s rest?”, or better still, just play it safe and say “good morning,” with your best and brightest smile 😁.
