War Horse: I am shocked that many Nigerian see the question "How was your night?" a problem. I use it a lot and I am yet to come across objections. I fell in love with that question when I heard kenny Rogers' song "She believes in me". In the song, Kenny just came back from a stay-out-late-at-night-and-play-my-song and his lady woke up "and quietly she says how was your night?". Was he expecting Kenny to say he had bad or good fun making---love with his guitar? Why do some Nigerian think rotten all the time?

may be we should stop saying good night :

because not everybody is married!
because not everybody is in good terms with their mate!
because not everybody enjoys s..e..x!
because the word night means s..e..x!
because some literate illiterates are Nigerians

Please, is it also bad ti tell someone "Have a nice night?"

Nice and good, are they synonyms ?- I mean like saying nice food or good food? any thing wrong with that?

TimePiece:

LOL! @ "troublesome expression"

The rule of acceptability given the context, has been broken. and that's exactly the point i made in my first response.
Grammaticality is not the only rule or standard set in any language to attain appropriateness.
if it were just a case of grammar, like you put it, then an expression like, "colourless green ideas sleep profusely" would be just fine because by any standard English grammatical structure, it is correct. But is it acceptable? no! Why? because everything is wrong with the idea given.
just like it is wrong to ask your colleague how their night went as a form of greeting in English.

my ice-cream illustration was just used to buttress the fact that it is not okay for anyone to say that a form is right, just by mere reasoning or sentiment but should be by application of what obtains in a system.

and yes, language rules can be likened to Maths formulae because every language user follows a set of rules or formulae when he speaks except that they just don't know it. Linguists will tell you that.

aribisala0: I recommend you google the expression

HOW WAS YOUR NIGHT?

Table Leg :
Personally i dont like that question .... say good morning and move the fu/ck on, dont worry about the past!

War Horse: I am shocked that many Nigerian see the question "How was your night?" a problem. I use it a lot and I am yet to come across objections. I fell in love with that question when I heard kenny Rogers' song "She believes in me". In the song, Kenny just came back from a stay-out-late-at-night-and-play-my-song and his lady woke up "and quietly she says how was your night?". Was he expecting Kenny to say he had bad or good fun making---love with his guitar? Why do some Nigerian think rotten all the time?

may be we should stop saying good night :

because not everybody is married!
because not everybody is in good terms with their mate!
because not everybody enjoys s..e..x!
because the word night means s..e..x!
because some literate illiterates are Nigerians

Please, is it also bad ti tell someone "Have a nice night?"

Nice and good, are they synonyms ?- I mean like saying nice food or good food? any thing wrong with that?

aribisala0:

No need to ask Professors they do not create Languages and a phrase or word exists the moment it has several subscribers. It might be annoying but it does "EXIST" and we need to we wary of the Colo Mentality that prescribes language being disseminated from the top down. Languages NEVER stand still and keep evolving.Take the word GAY for example it means something completely different today and those so called PROFESSORS had to surrender to the change.

Just as they resent What's up,What's cooking,popping etc those are all recognizable forms of greeting. Language is a servant not a Master and its users always change it to meet their needs. Even in the UK(the origin of English) there are phrases like "How am ya? How are youse(plural) which have their minority users and are VERY valid. English now no longer belongs to the English and nothing stops a population of 100 million plus charting their own course

By the way ,, How was ya last nite??

crusufixo: I dont see anyting wrong with the question. Its just an innocent question. even if one did anyting that nite, all u just have to do is answer 'fine' ( as in my nite was fine ), and dats it, life goes on. My tot is, if anybody flares up at that question, then that person's conscience is disturbing him/her for dat person must have done sometin wrong dat nite.

crusufixo: I dont see anyting wrong with the question. Its just an innocent question. even if one did anyting that nite, all u just have to do is answer 'fine' ( as in my nite was fine ), and dats it, life goes on. My tot is, if anybody flares up at that question, then that person's conscience is disturbing him/her for dat person must have done sometin wrong dat nite.

ignis: Actually, some people take it personal when asked 'how was your nyt'. My senior colleague told me its very wrong to ask an adult 'how was your nyt'?
To be on the safer side, just ask ' Hope your nyt was gud. Or did u sleep well?
Because people are different.

ujoatu:

a senior clients wife harassed me 4 asking the hubby same question, she said its wrong. its better to ask DID YOU SLEEP WELL. that how was your night is like HOW DID IT GO

linearity: "How was your nite?" Is a question and not a greeting...you do not ask people questions when what you said you intend doing is greeting them! Greetings come in form of statements..eg..these are some example of greetings and questions:

1. Good morning. (How is your morning is a question not a greeting)
2. Well done. (How were able to do all these...is not a greeting)
3. Sorry (Was that painfull...is not a greeting)
4. Take heart. (How are you coping with your lost...is a question and not a greeting)
5. congratulation. (Was the finals difficult...is not a greeting)
6. get well. (Are you hale and hearty now...is not a greeting)

mrscolite: Awkward but since i last made a comment,things have changed. I don't feel comfy asking how was ur nite anymore . Nairalanders what have you done to me?
I'd ask only close friends now& I don't want to hear Fine o,I need details the dirtier d berra

angel106:
Hello my dear nairalanders, can you kindly contribute to the topic. A colleague of mine came to work and was pissed at the response she got when she innocently greeted a friend and asked her "How was your night?".

The friend flared up and asked her to stop asking her such question, that why would she want to know how her night was? That why was she interested in knowing what she did with her husband .

Na wetin concern dead body with overload?

To me, it is just a simple remark of knowing that you had a good night rest without troubles. But i can be wrong, so my dears....you have the floor.

Thanks.