Sometimes, you can tell a person by the things they say. Some people ask "Cold enough for you?" when the temperature drops to -30"C; presumably, they also enjoy pointing out that you have fingers. There are people who will reflexively insist that you "have a nice day," even if you've just died or a lion is eating your leg. I knew a guy who used to say "You got that right!" a lot; this implied that he had a n agreeabl e dis position but a lso that h e was a cha racter in a Coen brothers film. And then there are the People Who Say Ciao. People Who Say Ciao are a breed apart. You can't just get up one morning, eat a slice of left over pizza, cheat on your mistress and then run around Like Roberto Benigni shouting "Ciao!" to everyone you meet. No, you have to be a special person to say ciao. Not everyone is. If you're shy, you can't pull off ciao. (Onl y the exubera nt need apply.) You can't own a pair of UGG boots or have side-parted hair and say ciao convincingly. If you're a hippie or a n "Occupy Everything" type, you won't be physically capable of saying ciao; it will stick in your throat like week old biscotti and you'll croak out something like "Jerry Garcia" or "Free the one-legged rhesus monkeys" instead. People Who Say Ciao don't care much for Jerry Garcia, a nd they can't really be bothered with monkeys (of any persua sion), which, let's face it, are Uke hippies (Read more here Modeblog, lumps of coal and other inanimate objects in that they, too, are incapable of saying ciao. So who, pray tell, can say ciao? There are some common characteristics. Ciao talkers have a certain yo uthful insoucia nce (which, if not treated, can develop into a more serious condition like full-blown jene sais quoi, or worse). Unfailingly generous, they graciou sly allow others to open their doors and bu y them drinks at hotel bars. They are international in outlook; they know how to cor rectly pronounce "table d'hote," "Gstaad" and "Mandy Patinkin." People Who Say Ciao are like Edie Sedgwick a nd Andy Warhol, except they're not dead. Over time, ciao has acquired a cachet that other greetings can only envy. Au revoir has never caught on, not even among the French, who, if they're really cool, will choose to say ciao instead. Say "auf Wiedersehen" loudly; you'll sound like a large dog barking. Even other nations' dual-use greetings--ciao can mea n both "hello" and "goodbye"-fa ll short. Although yasou serves an identica l pur pose, nobody outside Greece is enraptured with it (or with Greeks, lately). You ca n pull off aloha, but only under strict conditions: You live in Maui. Your wardrobe consists entirely of Hurley shirts and board shorts. You know that Don Ho is not a tasty noodle dish. Can you become a Person Who Says Ciao? Probably not. You could watch La Dolce Vita a hundred times a nd then gi ve it a shot, but the mere act of attempting to do so will inevitably result in this self-defeating paradox: Since People Who Say Ciao never have to "try" to do any thing, trying to become a Person Who Says Ciao means that you never will. Its' like a Zen koan. Or a ta ble d'hote, I guess. Saying ciao is not for everyone. In fact, it ca n be a little dangerous. People Who Say Ciao suffer from myriad hea lth problems. Because of the sheer nwnber of cheeks they regularly kiss, ciao talkers are stricken with many more communic able diseases. (However, they do tend to recuper ate in places like Gstaad.) And the incidence of severely sprained wrists-from gesticulating wild ly with their hands- is pervasive and troubling. Unfortunately, ciao talking is but an elusive dream for most of us. That said, we lesser beings have alternatives. "G'day" comes to mind. long island limo to from ny airports, long island limo service.
