I used to work at a grocery store. When bidding farewell to customers, my coworkers would often use phrases such as "Have a nice day," "Enjoy your day," and the like.
One particular phrase that seemed to be common was "Have a good one" (where "a good one" implies "a good day").
Since working there, I've heard people saying this in a variety of locations, from retail stores to restaurants to customer service helpdesks. I've never noticed any sort of correlation between age and the usage of the phrase; however, I was wondering about its history. Is this something that came about relatively recently?
(I've tagged this american-english as I live in the US and that's where I've heard the phrase.)
Best Answer
This is, as you noted, a very American idiomatic phrase which apparently dates from the 1970s. One dictionary includes the phrase in its definition of good, but notes it is American English. An idiom dictionary further refers to the phrase as a cliche. Interestingly, the only idiomatic definition they give is from the McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
One should be cautious when using this phrase, however. A blog found that the British explanation of the origins of the phrase were:
The blogger notes that British people may construe this parting phrase as highly sarcastic, so it may be best to keep its use to the American English arena.