[General] you take care

[justlearning]

"take care" as a phrase is normally used at the end of a conversation, right?

But in the below paragraph, how appropriate is the usage of "take care". (said to someone the night before his exam)

Bob... Good night. You take care. Good luck with the exams. Sleep tight. Pray well. It'll all be fine.

 

[probus]

"You take care" is commonly used in AmE at the end of a visit. The speaker admonishes the departing visitor not to carelessly get hurt on the way home. But the admonition is not to be taken very seriously. It is light-hearted and has synonyms such as "Safe home."

 

[Raymott]

Bob... Good night. You take care. Good luck with the exams. Sleep tight. Pray well. It'll all be fine.

I'm wondering how Bob is going to sleep with all those instructions to remember.

 

[probus]

It's just what we say.

 

[5jj]

It's just what we say.

Pray well?

 

[beesting]

Pray well?

Why not?

 

[Barb_D]

I have heard people say "We need to pray about this" or even an encouragement to "pray hard" but "pray well" doesn't work together very well - if one has an open heart, can one pray badly?

But more importantly, we discourage suggesting a person follow a religious practice that the speaker may follow but the listener may not.

 

[Raymott]

I suppose, "I need this, God, and I need it now!" is praying badly. But I don't hold myself to be an expert on prayer; I could never get it to work.

 

[beesting]

I have heard people say "We need to pray about this" or even an encouragement to "pray hard" but "pray well" doesn't work together very well - if one has an open heart, can one pray badly?

But more importantly, we discourage suggesting a person follow a religious practice that the speaker may follow but the listener may not.

How about "God bless you"? Isn't that too, in an indirect sense, ignorance of the other person's beliefs?

By the way, I don't think the term "prayer" carries religious connotations. Most religions do practice prayer but I think, prayer in itself, is a totally exclusive act. The word has got a million interpretations.

 

[emsr2d2]

How about "God bless you"? Isn't that too, in an indirect sense, ignorance of the other person's beliefs?

By the way, I don't think the term "prayer" carries religious connotations. Most religions do practice prayer but I think, prayer in itself, is a totally exclusive act. The word has got a million interpretations.

For me, "prayer" has only religious connotations.

 

[Barb_D]

For me, "prayer" has only religious connotations.

Completely agree.

And there is a difference in passively accepting that someone has asked for a blessing on your behalf with "God bless you" and accepting that you have just been told to follow a directive that you don't believe in.

 

[Amigos4]

For me, "prayer" has only religious connotations.

I tend to agree with the previous comments but "only" might be a little too emphatic! Refer to definition #7 in Collins.

"Do you think he has a prayer of getting that job?" (A negligible hope or chance) I'm not sure 'prayer' in this sense refers to a religious experience.

Cheers,
A4

 

[Barb_D]

Fair enough, A4. That "prayer" (the noun) does indeed have a a non-religious meaning of "chance." (Thus proving how silly it is to use "always" or "never" or "only" because someone always comes up with an exception!)

But the verb "pray" (as in being told to "pray well") really doesn't have other connotations.

 

[beesting]

Fair enough, A4. That "prayer" (the noun) does indeed have a a non-religious meaning of "chance." (Thus proving how silly it is to use "always" or "never" or "only" because someone always comes up with an exception!)

But the verb "pray" (as in being told to "pray well") really doesn't have other connotations.

Actually I said so because some days back I had come across an article by an Indian spiritual teacher called Osho, and he was giving various interpretations for the term "prayer" like he said, for him, anything done out of love was prayer.(like touching someone compassionately, an artist doing his work, making love, e.t.c) , and he was totally against religions. But then today I read an interview of his, where when asked if he use AmE or BrE, he said he speaks "Osho English". So, it was my fault. Sorry.

By the way, if we know that the person we are speaking to share the same religious beliefs, then how appropriate is the expression "be prayerful"?

 

[5jj]

By the way, if we know that the person we are speaking to shares the same religious beliefs, then how appropriate is the expression "be prayerful"?

It is not natural English to me.