The ‘Goodbye’ Problem

I sat down with a yellow pad, thinking I might write a poem.  For those of you smart enough to have never attempted writing a poem, such a task is generally, often, specifically, totally, undeniably frustrating.

Writing a poem never pays.

On the yellow paper, after several minutes I had written only this: In “goodbye” there is a rusting truck and an old man watching it rust from a wicker chair under a shed roof.

Frankly, good-bye has always been a problem for me.

The word good-by has fitfully, fretfully, foully floundered inside my head for as long as I have had a head.

It’s the spelling.

Is it goodbye?

Or good-bye?

Or good-by?

Or goodby?

As a failed poet, I had little choice but to seek my answer from the internet.  Off I went, sailing, swooping, swimming through the vast sea of information.

In the end—much to my dissatisfaction—all forms of spelling are correct or incorrect, dependent, it seems, on your personal selection, preference, or sensibilities.

There exists no authority to firmly settle the dilemma with spelling good ___ (fill in the blank).

I did find an interesting graph (reposted here today) at a WriteAtHome.com, a blog written by Brian Wasko.  The graph charts the usage of the various spellings of goodbye (suddenly my strong preference) in thousands of books over the last two centuries.

With that I say: Good grief.

--Mitchell Hegman