'Bye -- to mark a pause on b?

[susanna76]

Hi there,

I'm reading Lauren Weisberger's novel The Devil Wears Prada. She uses 'Bye instead of Bye several times. Do you think she uses the apostrophe to mark a pause on b? I mean, I know Bye is short for Goodbye, but that doesn't explain the apostrophe, since Bye is now a word on its own.

Here's a short passsage:
"Hi Andrea, it's Cara. [...] Just wanted to let you know. Anyway, have a good weekend. I'll talk to you later. 'Bye."
(Don't know if it helped any)

Thanks!

 

[prawer]

Hi Susanna,

I actually do think it's meant to indicate the contraction of "goodbye," rather than to suggest a pause. I'd imagine that an author would be likely to use an ellipsis "..." to signal this pause in dialogue. You're right that many readers would recognize 'bye' as a word on its own, but it's also true (I think) that readers would see "'Bye" and not interpret it as requiring a pause.

 

[pob14]

A lot of us still think of 'bye as a contraction for "goodbye." I hadn't thought about it until now, but I guess you do see it without the apostrophe these days. I don't think apostrophes get the love they deserve.

 

[Egmont]

An apostrophe does not indicate a pause in English. I don't think any author would use it that way. It's used for contractions, for possessives (before or after the letter "s"), and sometimes as a pronunciation guide (as in "Hawai'i," which in the Hawai'ian language is pronounced with two distinct "i" sounds).

I agree with prawer: here, it indicates contraction. (It's not hard to eliminate the other two possibilities.)

 

[Miss Julie]

An apostrophe is not used to mark a pause. It is used for possessives or, like in this case, to denote contractions...letters that normally would be there but aren't.

'Bye = goodbye
Can't = cannot
Isn't = is not

 

[susanna76]

OK, so it's definitely not used to emphasize the b. I was thinking of people who say it like this: [Mmbbye!]. So it's not that. OK. Thanks!

 

[Einstein]

Personally I wouldn't write Bye with an apostrophe, but I don't think it looks strange either and it shouldn't look strange to anyone who knows that Bye is short for Goodbye.
It's a question of evolution: as Bye becomes established as a word in its own right, the apostrophe disappears, but not everyone changes at the same time.

 

[ewie]

the apostrophe disappears, but not everyone changes at the same time.

Until relatively recently I always wrote 'phone, for example. (I've no idea why ~ I've never written tele' for television.) I rarely write Bye but when I do, it has no apostrophe. I can't imagine (anyone) writing 'Bye'Bye