Expression "It's too late for goodbye"

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Aside from death, I'm wondering what this expression means?? as in romance or relationships?
Is there a book that has expressions interpreted that can help people on the spectrum?

I'm wondering if when a person says "See you later", could they really mean "good-bye" sometimes... and how can you tell the difference?

Thanks for your input on my questions!

LF

I don't really understand that expression and I'm usually pretty good at working those kind of things out. But this one really doesn't make sense. Why would it ever be too late to say goodbye, unless someone's dead?

Anyway, you might find that a book about where phrases originated could be helpful. I don't know of any that have been specifically written for Aspies though, but it's possible someone has written one.

Btw, there's a song by Julian Lennon called Too Late for Goodbyes. 80s music FTW.

EDIT: Great minds, StuartN.

Well I always too 'see you later' to mean 'good bye.'

It's too late to say goodbye, hmm...
To me that means a missed opportunity, like when you break up with somebody or get in a fight with a friend and never speak to them again.
It makes me think of a friend I had. When he said he was moving to a new city I got angry and started ignoring him. Then the last time I saw him even though I did give him a little wave it felt like it wasn't enough.
Goodbye is more than just a farewell. It's a moment shared with love and longing. I'm not sure if I explained that properly. I've only experienced truly heart felt goodbyes a few times.

I think it's mostly used in cases of death or when somebody has otherwise gone away so permanently that the chance of saying goodbye is lost.

The term "goodbye" seems to be viewed as somehow quite final by authors who are exploring the term in their writings ("this is just adios and not goodbye") but I've often heard the term used in everyday speech with no such connotations. I suppose it's slightly better to say "bye for now" or "see you soon," because those phrases are more positive and they reassure the other person that they can expect to be together again.....personally when parting with a friend I'll automatically identify our next likely meeting and say something like "right, I'll see you at x then." Or if there's nothing scheduled, I might say "keep in touch" or "take care, eh?" - the latter doesn't promise a further meeting, but reassures them that I care about them, which kind of implies I'd like to see them again.

My thought is this.

Many times, people make a choice to leave a relationship and physically carry it out without that interaction that establishes closure for both sides that it's over.

So, yeah, you can break off a relationship with someone without ever saying "good bye." Then, realize later it needs to be, or should have been, said but by the time to get around to it, the benefit of saying it is meaningless because the other person knows you walked out, takes it as rejection, and any "healing" to be gained by breaking it off amicably is forever lost due to waiting too long to act.

THanks you all! this is making sense to me now.... I had this teacher that I really loved, and when it came time for the semester to end .. I didn't want to say good-bye, so I signed up for another class... then things didn't go so well... and when it was time to leave the second time, it wasn't heartfelt like it should have been..... It's like I ruined it and didn't say the proper goodbye the first time... with heartfelt deep sincerely... I hung on too long until it soured somehow.. but it ended up that she said "See you later" as she walked away... so... I don't know... maybe it isn't really "good-bye"... just that the good feelings and positive energy faded somehow.... If I had said good-bye the first time when everything was just FINE.. I could have saw her in the future somewhere and things would have been just fine... Sometimes... I just don't know when to leave at the right time...

thanks for helping me understand this better... Yeah, to have closure, a good-bye is necessary -- even if just for temporary closure-- like the end of the semester --- I would have saw her somewhere, naturally in about 6 months or so in town... but I had to ruin it..... hopefully, this will be a "lesson learned"...

Thanks for your input!

L