Goodnight Vienna!
catch phrase

- an expression signalling the end of something

- events have reached a state of completion; nothing more can be done

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PHRASE ORIGIN

The phrase ‘Goodnight Vienna’ is first found in print as the title of a 1932 radio operetta written by Eric Maschwitz, which was later made into a film of the same name starring Jack Buchanan and Anna Neagle. However, there’s no reason to see this as the source of the expression as it is now used, with the meaning 'It’s all over'. The film’s use of the two words is merely the coincidence a storyline of two lovers who say farewell in Vienna.

For the meaning "It’s all over now" we need to move forward to April 1965, where the UK newspaper The Coventry Standard reported about a gymnast called Maureen Wallis who was due to be part of a group taking part in a display in Vienna. Unfortunately, she twisted her ankle at the last minute. The paper reported this with:

“It is 'Goodnight Vienna' for the dark-haired senior champion".

Ringo Starr used 'Goodnight Vienna' as the name of an album that he released in 1974 with the title track was written by John Lennon. The lyrics of the song are ambiguous but seem to refer to the "It’s all over now" meaning of the phrase. This album and song title brought it to a much wider audience.

The phrase carries a tone of resignation, finality, and often dark humour about an unfortunate ending.

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SYNONYMS

all bets are off, all over bar the shouting, all over but the crying, and that is it, and that is the end of the matter, and that’s that, and we’re done here, book closed, bridge is burned, call it a day, case closed, case settled, chapter closed, closing time, cooked, cue the closing credits, curtain call, curtains, damage is done,  dead, dead in the water, decision final, die is cast, done and dusted, done deal, done for, doors are closed, Elvis has left the building, end of story, end of the line, end of the road, exit stage left, fate sealed, fin, final act, final nail, finished, finished and done, finished and filed, finis, finito, game over, gone, GOODNIGHT VIENNA, in the can, issue resolved, it’s all over, lights out, matter closed, merci au revoir, mission accomplished, no further action possible, no turning back, no way back, nothing further to be done, nothing more to be done, options exhausted, outcome decided, over, over and out, past the point of no return, put to bed, Rubicon is crossed, ship has sailed, show's over, signed sealed delivered, situation concluded, stick a fork in it, sunk, that is it, that was it, that’s curtains, that’s it then, that’s that, the curtain has fallen, the die is cast, the end, the end credits are rolling, the final nail in the coffin, the jig is up, the writing’s on the wall, time to turn out the lights, too late now, train has left the station, water under the bridge, window of opportunity closed, wrapped up

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SMUGGLE OWAD into an English conversation today, say something like:

“If we don’t finish the project today, it’s GOODNIGHT VIENNA for the whole team.”

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THANKS to Christina (from Vienna!) for suggesting today’s word!

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