Hi,

I just took my holidays in the Caribbean and met really nice people, but as a German I don't know all those special sentences like "once in a blue moon", which isn't translateable word for word. So I just caught another one: Good for you. If you tell me this sentence in German, translated word by word this doesn't really - honest - mean that something is good for me rather than "I don't care, good for YOU - but not for ME". So when people tell me this in German I am not happy about this, so what does it mean in english? Here's the complete sentence (just something like the original conversation):

RoWi: Yes, I have a son and he is 8 years old.
Partner: Oh, good for you.

Ok, you guys will say: Is that so interesting, that he will open a thread for this? Yes! Maybe it's ... good for me! ;-)

Rolf

It might depend on what country the person was from or even what part of a country they were from, but generally, here in the USA, it is considered "small talk" but still a compliment. Almost like saying "congratulations". I say usually because if it was said with some sarcasm or anger, then it would mean the same thing as it does in Germany. But you'd easily detect the sarcasm, so I suspect they were being genuine to you.

Thank you, he told it to me in a friendly manner, so I already thought it wouldn't be a sarcastic answer.

Rolf

If you google: "Good for you", you'll find plenty of uses of thr phrase, either literally or in the congratulatory manner suggested.

So now you understand. Good for you.

Yeah, what they said. "Good for you" should be translated literally.

However, like all human language, it can be said sarcastically or honestly, depending on the context. If you had no reason to think he was being sarcastic, then he meant it honestly.

Don't know if you ever got the definition of "once in a blue moon" or not?

A "Blue Moon" is a full moon appearing twice in the same calendar month. It is a rare event. So "once in a blue moon" means something that happens rarely.