Mathod of Saying bye

[Miquash]

Dear Sir/Madam,

I'm very new to your respective site and this is my first question.

Can I say to my friend while leaving "Can I make a move and it was nice to talking to you"?

Best regards,

MIQUASH.

[emsr2d2]

Dear Sir/Madam,

I'm very new to your respective respected site and this is my first question.

Can I say to my friend while leaving "Can I make a move and it was nice to talking to you"?

Best regards,

MIQUASH.

Welcome to the forum.

I assume you mean that you are leaving, not your friend. It's more usual to say "I must make a move" or "I'm going to make a move now", rather than "Can I ... ?"

I would also make them two separate sentences, not join them with "and".

I'm going to make a move now. It's been nice talking to you. See you soon. Bye."

[Barb_D]

I need help with the "move" part. That's not something we say in the US. What does it mean? "I've got to get moving"? Same meaning?

Here, it sounds either like you're playing chess or you want to make a sexual advance at someone.

[emsr2d2]

I need help with the "move" part. That's not something we say in the US. What does it mean? "I've got to get moving"? Same meaning?

Here, it sounds either like you're playing chess or you want to make a sexual advance at someone.

Ah, another BrE vs AmE difference. Yes, in BrE "to make a move" can mean to leave. It's used at the end of an evening or of any get-together. If you've just spent a whole weekend with your relatives and you decide it's time to leave, you stand up, stretch, grab your car keys and say "Right. That's it. It's been lovely but I have to make a move now. The traffic will be bad on the way home and I want to get back before it's dark."

We use it for the future too - "I'm going to make a move in about half an hour so let's get one more drink in." We don't tend to use it in the past ("I made a move about 10pm" - no).

I realised after I typed my first comment that it can also mean a sexual advance. Context is everything, as usual!

[Barb_D]

Thanks - I hadn't heard this one before. Our essentially the same verison is "Well, I've got to get a move on" or "I'd better get moving."

I have no idea why we say "a move on." I never thought about it before but it doesn't make much sense, does it?