The traditional response to this greeting is:

"...And the rest of the day to yourself!"

A good way to avoid hearing this twee greeting is to move to Ireland, where it is used not at all. If indeed it was ever used, it has now been eradicated, along with "begorrah" and smallpox.

This is not to say, however, that Irish people are averse to the odd cliché: in certain areas you can still expect to be informed that it is a "soft day, thank God", and "Jesus, Mary and Joseph" are still invoked with alarming regularity.

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