say goodbye and not tell goodbye. why?

[German_lover]

Hi. I have this doubt.

 

[Beryl from Northallerton]

Please express your doubt within the body of the thread, and feel free to elaborate on it.

 

[entangledbank]

'Tell' includes the idea of giving information. The person you tell didn't know it before. So it's not appropriate for greetings and the like:

She said to him, 'It's a nice day today.' [she was just making friendly conversation]
She told him, 'It's a nice day today.' [perhaps was he stuck indoors and couldn't see the sky]