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Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock: The Long Deaf Goodbye, Explained

Posted by: Staff Writer on June 18, 2012  |  Comments

In Mandarin, goodbye is “zai jian.” In German, it is “Tschüss.” In French, it is “À bientôt.” Short, quick and snappy. After a hearing person says it, she walks away or hangs up the phone - promptly. Now, get your stopwatch for a cultural experiment: Just how long is a deaf goodbye? Not as long as reading War and Peace. It’s sometimes longer than an episode of Switched at Birth (how fitting!). It always feels shorter than the line at the licensing office.