: How do greetings vary with time of day? A character in a story meets another and the author is keeping time of day, as in "the clock was indicating 12 noon". How do the characters greet

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Time Meeting Parting
00.00 – 12.00 Good Morning Good Day
12.00 – 18.00 Good Afternoon Good Day
18.00 – 24.00 Good Evening Good Night

It is important that the greeting is different for meeting and parting. I have heard media technocrats say Good Morning when they are beginning a conversation with a guest at, say, 10.00am and when finishing shortly afterwards, also say Good morning. I have also heard them say Good Evening when finishing a conversation with a guest at, say 18.00.

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In Spanish, Good morning is Buenas dias, Good afternoon is Buenas tardes, and Good night is Buenas noches.

In Tagalog, the national language of The Philippines, Good morning is Magandan umaga, Good afternoon is Magandan hapon, and Good night is Magandan gabi. In addition in Tagalog, hello said at noon is Magandan tanhali.

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This is something that can be used to show your character's character. When I was in highschool I almost always used the wrong greeting just to see what people would do. So if your character is obnoxious, this can be used to show that. You can also show confusion, weariness, obsequiousness, obsessive attention to detail and more. Ponder the following:

The lunch appointment was for noon. I hated noon appointments. Salutations were always more complicated at noon. I was of course early. Fifteen minutes, It was a restaurant so extra time for finding a table would not be inappropriate. I greeted the matradee. "Good morning" The reservation was in order for noon. If it had been at his office I would not have been more than five minutes early. Or less than three. Offices were easy that way. Restaurants on the other hand had crowds and waitresses which always played with the schedule. He had a reputation for always being on time. Ordinarily I would approve, but the schedule called for noon. I hate noon appointments. I saw him approach. Well before 12:01. no way that I could use afternoon yet. If he was quick enough, I could still use morning. Alass he got to the table just as my watch beeped the hour. I hate noon appointments. Oh well no help for it, I greeted him as best as I was able, "Hello."

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If it's not for radio, greetings don't need to be voiced at all. If it's just two characters, it might very well be non-dialog:

Bob saw George coming back from the break room, and caught his eye. They moved into a doorway of an unused office, out of the hallway traffic.
"I have an idea for the new product line." Bob said ...

I find in real life people don't use formal greetings or address each other during conversation, compared to what is seen in fiction and perhaps in the past or in other cultures.

Body language plays a larger role.

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This is heavily dependent on language, culture and subculture.

As an example, the standardised usage in the Swedish military is to use (this is, alas, translated to English to be somewhat comprehensible) "good morning" from 06:00 to 10:00, "good day" from 10:00 to 18:00, "good evening" from 18:00 to 22:00 and "good night" from 22:00 to 06:00.

However, for something approaching "modern day english-speaker", one of "hello", "hi", "what's up" or similar would probably work well.

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Good morning 5:00 AM to 12:00 PM.
Good noon 12:00 PM to 2:30 PM.
Good afternoon 2:30 PM to 5:00 PM.
Good evening 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM.
Good night 8 to whole night till to 5:00 AM.
Hello,Hi,Hey,How are you every time..

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English speakers are fairly loose in this regard. The different greetings overlap, and your reader is unlikely to worry too much about what you use (unless it's 8 a.m. and your characters are saying "Good afternoon.").

A rough guide, however:

~5:00 to ~12:30: Good morning.
~12:30 to ~ 17:00: Good afternoon.
~16:30 to ~5:00: Good evening. (A tricky one. As far as I know, us English speakers don't say "Good night" in greeting, no matter how late in the day it is.)

But these answers are approximate. The greeting might also vary depending on how light it is outside (You might say "Good morning" at 4:30 a.m., if the sun is up); the speaker's own schedule (If you generally wake up at 10:00, you might stretch "Good morning" as late as 13:00); or day of the week ("Evening" on Friday lasts longer than on Tuesday).

If you really aren't sure, just have them say "Hello" or "How are you?". A time-based greeting is not required in English.

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The character will be probably as confused as you, unless they spend a good while to think over the meaning of the greeting. But just in case they paused to think it over...

A greeting is wishing the upcoming time to be good. If you say "Good morning" you don't state "this morning is good". It's a shorthand for "I wish you to have a good morning".

Since at noon the morning is just ending, there is no point giving wishes for such a short time. You wish good afternoon which has just started - your wish will last for longer.

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