take care of yourself

[Anonymous]

If i say " Take care of yourself" in a friendly way
it would mean that i am telling the person that
he or she is not taking good care of him/herself??

It happened to me once, while saying good bye to a friend.
Instead saying just "take care" i said "take care of yourself".
I think , if it doesn't have the same meaning the person would know what i was trying to say, because the situation was friendly.

Please, tell me is it an outrageous thing to say??

 

[RonBee]

"Take care of yourself" is an expression of genuine interest and concern. I don't know why anybody would take it any other way. It is definitely a friendly expression.

 

[Tdol]

'Take care' is the normal way of saying it, but the 'of yourself' might be added if you weren't going to see them for a while. I'd also add 'of yourself' if the person were ill or had problems and might not be eating too well, etc. It's not an outrageous thing to say by any means, but it would probably not be used by a native speaker except for some sort of emphasis. I'm sure they understood you- you'd say it the way I suggested with a serious face. If it was a casual goodbye, then it should not have come across as much, IMO. ;-)