"Hey, goodbye / Goodbye is forever."
- duranduran

That's the way I look at it. There are many ways to end a conversation or an evening or whatever, but when I tell you "goodbye", that's it. We're done, it's over, nice knowin' ya.

Go ahead and listen for it in future conversations with me: I never say "goodbye". I might say "bye" but it's more common for me to say "see you later" or "talk to you later", because I anticipate doing so. It's a wish for the future - I could just as well say "fare thee well" but that's a little too Festie for me. And it's hard to work "may the road rise to meet you" into casual conversation, as considerate and nice as that is.

But when I tell you "goodbye", we are at an end and our association is over. If you don't pick up on that when I say it, it will become starkly clear in the near future.

Just a little idiosyncracy of mine that rarely comes up. I don't know how I decided upon it, but there it is. Know it, learn it, live it.