Ending your phone conversation. . .

Have any of you noticed that quite a few English people do not know how to just say 'bye' at the end of a phone conversation, and hang up?  I swear, everytime I am talking to one of my English family members or friends on the phone, inevitably, we reach that akward moment of saying 'bye'.  I just say 'bye' or 'c-ya' or 'love ya', as it applies to whomever I am speaking with and then hang up.  However, this seems to be extremely difficult for my English counterparts.  They say, 'Bye, bye, ok, see you, talk to you later, bye, bye' all at once (in a very sing-song kind of way).  I always feel like I am hanging up on them!

I brought this up to my English husband the other night and he laughed til he had tears in his eyes, and said that it was, indeed, true.  He spent 10 yrs in America with me and no longer has this issue. But, he works in the car business here, and uses the phone frequently to contact his customers. He said he thought it was just him being abrupt too.

They say, 'Bye, bye, ok, see you, talk to you later, bye, bye' all at once (in a very sing-song kind of way). 

My husband's been in the states for about 15 years and still does this.  I thought it was strange at first, but now, after over 8 years together, I have caught myself doing it (mainly when I end a phone call with him, but nonetheless...)!   

I just say "bye" or "see you later" but then again I'm often told that I have a very direct phone manner......don't say much on the phone, just the basics. I don't see the point if I'm going to see somebody soon.

I think it must be a person-to-person thing rather than a US vs UK. I say this because I often tease my DH (the US part) about this very thing. He (and all his family) usually say goodbye 4 or 5 times before they hang up.

I on the other hand say goodbye and put the phone down. In fact, back before we were married DH often thought I was cross with him as I put the phone down... Umm.. no, as far as I'm concerned, when you say bye it means bye!!

Wow, I really thought this is something just my (English) husband does! He always has to say "bye" at least three times, then will say something like, "No, really, I have to go now." Well, I was ready after the first time, but okay!

Lol too funny! I noticed that too! The women all get a high pitched voice and say byeeeee. I think it's cute. Lol.

Hahaha...I canNOT get English people off the phone.

Had a long conversation this morning that really shouldn't have been a long conversation at all.

I admit that I say 'bye' multiple times and the pitch of my voice goes up a bit.  My husband does it too. My MIL always cracks me up because of how it sounds with her Cork accent. It's more of a 'boye' 'boye' 'boye'. Hilarious!

Ha Ha Ha!!   I nearly had an accident when I read this thread.  This is soooo my In-laws it's frighting.  I hate speaking to my BIL on the phone cause he seems to take the "UKism" to the extreme.   "Bye, Bye, Bye, see ya, Ok bye.............................................. ......................Bye, bye-bye, later"  It goes on forever!!!! 

  My husband did think we Americans were quite rude on the other hand though.  He says when he watches American tv shows people just seem to hang up on each other.   Not because they are angry, they just don't say goodbye.

Yes, when I mention this thread to my husband, he said it was an example of how rude Americans can be. I'm, like, "dude. You're done. You say goodbye. How much more of that does there need to be?"

@Smashley I am laughing my head off at your post.  I is great to see that I am not the only one who thinks this is an issue.  I just got off the phone with my freind, who prctically sang me goodbye.  Too cute!

Yes, when I mention this thread to my husband, he said it was an example of how rude Americans can be. I'm, like, "dude. You're done. You say goodbye. How much more of that does there need to be?"

LOL @ you! So true.  My husband freaked when he heard me hang up on a telemarketer after telling them, "Sorry, don't want any. Goodbye."  If he had taken the call, he'd be on there for 15 mins listening to things he had no interest in.   We have the same problem with door-to-door salespeople. Tom cannot close the door on them. One day we were in a hurry and I heard a knock on the front door. Fearing that Tom would be standing there listening to the person for 20 minutes, I calmly smiled and said, "I'll get it, darling."  Yes, it was a salesperson.  After hearing their first sentence, I politely told them I was not interested.  Did that stop them? Nope. They began to banter on, but I figured they would, so I then told them I was closing the door and "goodbye now". LOL And I did.  Husband was appalled.  I said, "Well, darling, if they were rude enough to ignore my comment of not being interested, then I'm not hanging around to listen to them, either."    So now he tries to answer the phone and the door before I do. LOL

OMG. It's the sing-song bit that gets me. Especially when it's men doing it!

My husband did think we Americans were quite rude on the other hand though.  He says when he watches American tv shows people just seem to hang up on each other.   Not because they are angry, they just don't say goodbye.

BF talks about this all the time.  It's always "Why does no one ever say good-bye before they hang up? Since when is 'okay' or 'yeah' or silence the way you end a conversation?!" 

I tell him that it's not really how we do it, that it's for dramatic effect, but if they did it the British way you'd eat up at least 5 minutes of programme with people bouncing "bye-bye" back and forth at one another. 

I'm not sure I'm really understanding this thread. When I lived in the US, everyone I know ended a phone conversation by saying goodbye. And I still get a goodbye when I phone friends. Is this unusual??