How Thomas Jefferson Invented A New Way Of Saying “Goodbye”

There will come a point where you may have a lot of goodbyes looming to say — maybe you’re moving across the country, or leaving a job you’ve held for years. When “goodbye” no longer seems enough (or you simply get bored of saying it), it might be time to turn to a former US president for some linguistic inspiration.

1. “My name is Haines”
2. Stuck phrase

“My name is Haines”

In the early nineteenth century, sometime at the beginning of his second term as president, Thomas Jefferson He was riding his horse in the countryside near Monticello — his home and farm on the outskirts of Charlottesville, Virginia — when he happened to bump into a fellow rider who accompanied him on the rest of his ride. But the man he met did not realize that his companion was the President of the United States.

As the two men continued their journey, the conversation soon turned to politics, and without knowing that he was riding alongside the president, the man began his journey. Long explanation Of everything that is wrong with the current political system, from the grassroots of the administration down to Jefferson himself. He declared that the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 was nothing but a “wild scheme.” The President’s plans toNavy gunboat“It was preposterous. And… 1807 Embargo Act— which halted all American foreign trade in nonviolent protest against Britain and France’s treatment of America during the Napoleonic Wars — was dismissed as a senseless and potentially disastrous diplomatic failure. Yet, throughout it all, Jefferson remained characteristically calm, saying little to defend himself or to counter his companion’s views.

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Eventually the two arrived at Jefferson’s house, and although they were constantly being vilified all the while, Jefferson calmly asked his companion if he would like to stop for a while and join him for some refreshment. He gratefully accepted the invitation, and as he was about to dismount from his horse, the man finally thought to ask the name of his new friend.

“Thomas Jefferson,” he answered.

The man paused for a moment. “My name is Haines,” he answered frankly – before running away as fast as he could.

Stuck phrase

This remarkable tale first appeared in print in 1840. As it continued to be repeated and retold, in person and in the press, in the years that followed, the expression became My name is Haines It quickly slipped into everyday use in colloquial language in the nineteenth century. According to one description“Words suitable for sudden or hasty departure.” For decades, anyone forced to leave a place prematurely, hastily, or awkwardly could justify their departure with this catchphrase, and all would be forgiven. Despite its usefulness, it… My name is Haines It seems to have diminished from use following the Civil War, until it had almost completely disappeared from the language by the beginning of the twentieth century.

The fact that no record of the story has been uncovered in any of Jefferson’s personal writings (coupled with Jefferson’s longstanding refusal to have any of his staff accompany him on his daily horseback rides, which alarmed his colleagues in Washington) unfortunately makes it impossible to confirm. Furthermore, although the above version is the most common account today, there appear to have been several versions of it in circulation at the time – including this much more Detailed calculation from The Home Life of Thomas Jefferson (1871), in which Jefferson’s critical riding companion accepts his invitation and returns for dinner the next day.

All of this unconfirmed eventually led some etymologists to believe that Jefferson may have made up the story himself, but whatever the truth, there is no doubt about the phrase’s eventual popularity in 19th-century America. Two decades After Jefferson’s deaththe newspapers were still reporting that “A more popular saying, nor a more general saying, has never been introduced. We hear it in Maine and Georgia, Maryland and Arkansas; it is repeated in the mouths of old and young, graves and homosexuals—in short, ‘My name is Haines’ has a popularity such as no slang or indecent expression has ever achieved.”

A version of this story was originally published in 2015; Updated for 2025.