Bye-bye is such a universal word. I've had meetings with people all over the world yet, as the conversation goes to an end... there it is again: Bye-bye.
How could a word that sounds so... funny, a little 'kiddy' and weird, almost alien-like, be acclimitized and accepted world wide? Who created it? Is there any reason for the word "bye" to be repeated twice? Hello is another word. But it's not as glamorous as Bye-bye. Coz in the Latin world, they'd rather say "Ola". But, again, as the talk ends... bye-bye pops out again. Bye-bye sounds very informal and fun. I've been in a heated meeting where there are some red faces, but when the meeting ends; with smoke still coming out from the boiling man's ear, he says "bye-bye".
Some people does not want to sound too 'playful'. So they opted to unrepeat the word and just say 'bye'. Which sounds weird and incomplete. So, they added in another word and ended up saying, "OK, bye". Then they realized that, the combo effects of ok+bye does not set a mood for a smile. On the other end, there are people who likes to be funny. So, they take one bye out, and then increase the drag on the other one. End result: Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
Bye-bye sounds very Alaskan. It probably came from there. It makes perfect sense. As the winter-all-year-long Alaskan shivers, they probably stuttered and repeated 'bye' into bye-bye.
Then came the influence of the French to fight for global linguistic supremacy. They came out with 'chaio' (pronounced: chow). But it didn't make it to the mass market. It got into the niche market, though. But never big enough to see eye-to-see with the Alaskan.
Oh, my 6am conference meeting is coming to an end... Byeeeeeeeeeeee.
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