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How should I greet between 12pm and 2pm? Should I say 'Good Afternoon' or 'Good Noon'? Is Good Noon commonly used or not?

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No, it's not common. In fact, if I heard someone say that, and I had to transcribe it, I might even use an apostrophe (i.e., "Good 'noon") to denote a shortened form of "Good afternoon." It's that uncommon, especially when compared to its counterpart. – J.R. Apr 13 '12 at 11:58
'Good noon' is unheard of. In AmE, 'good day and 'good afternoon' are recognized but not really used (obsolete even?), and 'good morning' and 'good night' are as everyday as every day. – Mitch Apr 13 '12 at 12:24
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Noon is technically a single fixed timepoint of 12:00:00.000 in the exact middle of the day. At 12:00:00.001 the time is now after noon. So the correct term should be good afternoon. – AlanBarber Apr 13 '12 at 12:35
I wait for one second and say "good afternoon". How about that? Cheers! – user27286 Oct 11 '12 at 9:07

1 Answer

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No, "Good Noon" is not commonly used. "Good Afternoon" is technically appropriate anytime after 12 noon. As an alternative, you could also say "Good Day".

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'Good day', or rather 'G'day' is, I believe, what Australians say, but it's hardly ever heard in the UK. 'Good afternoon' isn't all that common here either. As casual greetings, 'Hello' or 'Hi' are much more likely to be heard. – Barrie England Apr 13 '12 at 7:57
'Good Day' is used in the UK, but more as a farewell or a dismissal, not as a welcome. – Rory Alsop Apr 13 '12 at 8:04
As an Aussie I can definitely confirm the "g'day" usage - and it doesn't matter what time of day or night it is ;-). "Good afternoon" does sound a bit formal, even stilted. It is usually abbreviated to simply "afternoon", and quite common in the business world, though not so common on informal occasions, where "hello", "hi" or "hey" (or variants thereof) are typically used between friends, as @Barrie says. In other (non-Aussie) parts of the world, "Good day" can seem old-fashioned and seems to have shifted from being a greeting to being a... shall we say, "cold shoulder departure" phrase. – aaamos Apr 13 '12 at 8:10
@aaamos: In that case, G'day. Absolutely right about 'Good day' here. 'Then I wish you good day, sir', if heard at all, is unlikely to come at the end of a friendly encounter. – Barrie England Apr 13 '12 at 8:26
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@BarrieEngland: Couldn't agree more. G'day right back atcha, mate, but I won't bid you "good day".... – aaamos Apr 13 '12 at 11:11
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