Is “cheers” the most searched-for word in the world traveler’s translation app? I hear you protest. Surely that should be a greeting? Let’s be honest: We may all voyage with good intentions, but whether you’re a silver-tongued polyglot or a stalwart monolingual, it’s easy to be befuddled when put on the spot to remember newly learned vocab—especially when the appropriate greeting can depend on the time of day, gender (both yours and that of the person you are addressing), the level of familiarity or formality, and so on. All of which makes a straightforward salutation deceptively complex, and so we hide behind a simple and globally recognized “hello.” 128 | THE WORLD OF FINE WINE | ISSUE 79 | 2023