Forum: outdoors.stackexchange.com
Tags: <fishing><germany><etiquette>
Title: Is the fishermen's greeting "Petri Heil" accepted all around the world?
Question: In Germany fishermen greet each other with "Petri Heil". I asked myself if this is only a German thing or is it kind of universal (at least in developed countries like EU countries, US etc.) for fishermen?

Answers:
sents: text: This answer is based on the meaning of "Petri Heil", I have hardly any first hand knowledge of the use of this phrase.
text: For starters it is certainly restricted to countries where the majority religion is christianity, as "Petri" is a reference to the biblical fisherman Petrus (Luke 5.1-11 and John 21.1-14).[1]
text: Then "Heil" is a somewhat outdated German noun used as a greeting.
text: In general it is positive expression, meaning a broad range of things like good fortune, health, success, ...
text: It is derived from "heilig" which is "holy".[2]
text: So the German origin makes it likely that this is only used in German speaking parts of the world.
text: However there are German expressions in English and probably other languages.
text: Generally in technical language you can often find terms from foreign languages.
text: So this is not conclusive.
text: Combining the two "Petri Heil" means something like
text: "I wish you just as much success as fishing as the biblical Petrus had".
text: At least technically, I guess hardly any fisherman will actually know this.
text: [1] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petri_Heil [2] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heil
answer_details: author: outdoors.stackexchange.com/users/3602/imsodin
score: 31
sents: text: I grew up in Italy, in a fishermen's village on the Adriatic Sea.
text: I never heard this expression, and I am pretty sure I've never heard it anywhere in the Mediterranean.
text: Furthermore, I think that a "HEIL" in the southern European seas is one of the most non-local and foreign-sounding expressions that I can imagine.
text: So please don't even try it :-)
answer_details: author: outdoors.stackexchange.com/users/11037/Federico Giorgi
score: 18
sents: text: In case you do not mind a regional-based mutation, among Czech fishermen a very similar greeting can be heard: "Petru zdar!"
text: or "Petrův zdar", which has the same meaning as "Petri Heil".
text: However, I suppose the Czech analogue actually comes from German as the Czech language used to be influenced by German in the past.
answer_details: author: outdoors.stackexchange.com/users/11038/JBI
score: 14
sents: text: I grew up in a fishing community on islands north of Scotland, and never once heard this.
text: The folks up there used English and Norse greetings, but not a German one, so I would imagine it is German-specific.
text: So Universal?
text: No.
answer_details: author: outdoors.stackexchange.com/users/66/Rory Alsop
score: 9
sents: text: In English, a common greeting used would be "Tight Lines", more on exiting the area than entering, to wish others luck.
text: Although not a literal translation, it is considered equivalent.
answer_details: author: outdoors.stackexchange.com/users/11042/dlb
score: 4
sents: text: I moved to Germany in 2018 and had a chance to talk to a few fishermen.
text: I asked them what should I say to a fisherman when greeting him
text: and they told me “Petri Heil”,
text: so I suppose they still use it, but may be not all of them.
text: I live near Luxembourg border, so may be this is a regional thing.
answer_details: author: outdoors.stackexchange.com/users/16025/Iulia
score: 3
sents: text: I'm a Canuck.
text: My father in law is German and lives there.
text: Whenever he speaks to my wife, he has her tell me Petri Heil, knowing we both fish.
text: Neither of us speak the other's language though I have picked-up on a few, ahem, choice words here and there.
text: The common greeting here is "Tight Lines", the meaning should obvious.
text: Tight lines meaning "fish on" or
text: , I wish you much luck :)
text: And I do believe the answer to Petri Heil is Petri Danke.
answer_details: author: outdoors.stackexchange.com/users/17906/James
score: 2

Summary of the answers:
In general it is positive expression, meaning a broad range of things like good fortune, health, success. However, this is not familiar in Scotland or in the Mediterranean.
This is a positive expression but is not universal.