Ending posts with "cheers" and "peace out": What does it mean?

No offense to anybody, but I'm sometimes really confused about certain greetings, and maybe it's a local thing for me, or I'm just behind the latest fashions?

Now in South African vernacular English "cheers" means "goodbye".
So I've been gathering some negative thoughts at times when people reply to my posts and end them with "cheers".
To me that means: "Goodbye, I never want to talk to you again, and don't bother replying".
Imagine somebody posts a reply and they end it with "Goodbye"!

It sounds like a break-up letter after a bad relationship:
"PS. Thanks for leaving my clothes on the lawn, but at least I always cut it and kept it clean. Good luck with that you filthy slob. Cheers! "
It means "goodbye", and after a disagreement it could mean "goodbye and good riddance".

However, I've come across this post-script greeting now on several other posts.
I think it has a completely different meaning to what I first thought.
In fact, it seems to be something positive?
I've heard English people say "cheers" for thanks, or perhaps "Cheers!" as a toast with drinks.
Is this the meaning?
Should I end my responses to such posts with "Prost" (German) or "Gesondheid (Afrikaans)?

What exactly does the "cheers" mean?

"Cheers" seems more recent, and an older form of greeting was more direct in meaning, but still at times surprising.
Sometimes people would destroy an argument, and leave some legally hidden insults, and then, yes then, after making your blood boil, they write underneath:
"Peace out!"

It would be a bit like a Westboro kid going hippie:
"God hates Fags - Peace Out!"

OK, I get and appreciate the peace stuff (for example, "I know I've been harsh, but it's all just debate and not personal").

But what does "cheers" actually mean?
Where did it suddenly come from?
Please explain somebody.

reply to post by halfoldman


From 'Online Etymology Dictionary' - www.etymonline.com...

salute or toast when taking a drink, British, 1919, from plural of cheer (also cf. cheerio). Earlier it is recorded as a shout of support or encouragement (1720). The old English greeting what cheer was picked up by Algonquian Indians of southern New England from the Puritans and spread in Indian languages as far as Canada.

Hope that helps you...

Cheers!

At least according to dictionary meanings of Cheers I'm not wrong:

cheers [tʃɪəz]
sentence substitute Informal chiefly Brit
1. a drinking toast
2. goodbye! cheerio!
3. thanks!

www.thefreedictionary.com...

However, I suspect that not any of these meanings explain the proliferation of the mysterious "cheers" that grace the ending of numerous ATS posts nowadays.

As a thanks it should come sooner, as a toast it should be appropriate (unless the sender assumes and rudely implies the receiver is an alcoholic), and as a goodbye it cancels out future interaction (which on a thread meant for interaction is inappropriate and rude - then why not end with "F You"?).

So what does it mean?

What do you mean when you end a post with "cheers"?

reply to post by halfoldman

In my opinion, and in this particular context that you're talking about,sometimes it just means "It's all good".

To me that means: "Goodbye, I never want to talk to you again, and don't bother replying".

I don't ever see it as being a negative remark. Obviously this is just my opinion, but I think it leans more towards a "See ya later", and not really a conclusive "Goodbye. Good Riddance."


If it is someone that you are in disagreement with, it might mean something along the lines of "Let's agree to disagree", or maybe similar to, "Ok well, I see your point, so maybe we're both partially right".


Personally, I never use those terms, but I do use this→ : c h e e r s : =
Usually, when I do that it may be because I said something that could be considered as being mean lol, but I was just joking, such as:
No hard feelings.

reply to post by halfoldman


cheers.in this case simply means thankyou or thanks

cheers

Its Thankyou and good bye rolled into one.

I guess we should be saying "Peace In".

Maybe they hit us with a subliminal double-think with that whole "Peace Out"??

It works logically as "Peace in, War out", and the alternative, "Peace out, War in".
We are so brainwashed, haha.

Originally posted by halfoldman

1. a drinking toast
2. goodbye! cheerio!
3. thanks!

However, I suspect that not any of these meanings explain the proliferation of the mysterious "cheers" that grace the ending of numerous ATS posts nowadays.

Personally, I think that it actually does mean those, but it is just a very broad generalization.

(unless the sender assumes and rudely implies the receiver is an alcoholic)......

I think that would be more like: or

reply to post by maythetruthbeknown

Are you sure that's all it means?

And why thank a person when it's not appropriate?

Usually when one does help people in some way with links or information, they actually write back with "Thank you", or "Thank you kindly".

Is it sarcasm?

Or do they mean to say that their position dominates so mightily that they can dish out meaningless "thank yous" like some reptilian queen, or rock stars after a concert?

In that case I should end my replying post with:

"You're welcome."

reply to post by halfoldman


As a Saffir i use "cheers" quite often in my posts, but, i do not mean it in a bad way. I would say i mean it more in a way of "cheerio" chat soon, or later.

I too use peace (& love) quite often, only cos i am spiritual and mean true peace and love to whomever i was replying to.

I will admit, at times over my years on ATS & other forums that i have ended with a cheers as to say "good riddance", but that person would,should have picked up in my reply or post my that my attitude was negative & am saying "good riddance".

I would be able to pick up in the wording of the post if the cheers is a "cheerio mate, later " or a "cheers, good bloody riddance"

Later

It's a vernacular greeting that simply means a friendly goodbye. In the US, people sometimes say "cheers!" as a toast or as a happy goodbye. It's meant to be friendly and lighthearted.

Peace out.....that's interesting. Never seen that myself on a post, but it doesn't strike me as unfriendly. Maybe it's the best way someone could come up with to signal the end of a post.

Personally, I use a variety of expressions in my posts, including cheers! and no worries.

Thank you for this post....a great reminder that language is different. S&F

I first met Cheers=Thanks about forty years ago.
I think the meaning here is supposed to be "thank you for reading this post".
Think of it as the verbal equivalent of a thumbs-up gesture.

It's like "aloha".

Cheers

Thanks guys for the explanations so far, which seem to be just as diffuse as my dilemma.

I really thought I missed some new movie, or something in popular culture where "cheers" is a modulation for something I do not understand.

So actually, in the context of a post it really is mostly quite rude in intent, or at least firm?

The problem is that some people who are using it may be copying it thinking it's the new "It" greeting from the continent, with no idea of how it comes across.

It can be potentially disruptive in that way.

It's just an idiotic trend like the people who used to end all their encounters with "Have a Nice Day!"

Have a Nice Day....

reply to post by halfoldman


hi, whenever i say cheers it always means thank you,

cheers, lol

reply to post by KaelemJames

Great reply from a user of the "cheers".

So one should gather from the post what the "cheers" actually implies, and never judge a post by its "cheers".

Well, that is quite helpful, because then the "cheers" is not immediately a sign that modulates the meaning of the rest of the post.

Of course that's still unsure, because it must all be interpreted, and with "cheers" becoming quite popular now there's a huge risk of miscommunication.

I can see how it comes from speech and slang, so reading the post might help to gauge the neutrality of the "cheers", but in writing it can be interpreted quite differently to the intention.

Originally posted by halfoldman

So actually, in the context of a post it really is mostly quite rude in intent, or at least firm?

No. The exact opposite.

You're trying way too hard. You're looking for some sort of significance to it, but there is none.

reply to post by BrokenCircles

Really?
Well perhaps, but almost all the other posts say they do attach a significance to how they read and use "cheers" in posts.
And it doesn't seem to be a standard intention or reading.
And the posters so far may not be the greatest current users of such viral greetings on ATS, so we only have a small sample of meanings.

At least it draws attention to the fact that a word can be quite important, and one should never assume that everybody can guess or interpret it in the same way.
There is a slight, but notable potential for miscommunication.
From a linguistic point of view it's perhaps fascinating, because several inflections of a word may be used to mean different things, and it's a non-spoken inflection or modulation.
We have to rely on some "psychic" sense of semiotics, it seems.

reply to post by halfoldman

Originally posted by halfoldman

Well perhaps, but almost all the other posts say they do attach a significance to how they read and use "cheers" in posts.

This↓ is exactly what I meant when I said it's not significant.

Originally posted by halfoldman

And it doesn't seem to be a standard intention or reading.

It has meaning, but no particularly significant meaning, because it is such a broad generalized term. It doesn't really have a specific meaning to it.


It is usually used as a positive remark, and not some sort of sarcastic negative.