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This actually had happened when I was about to relieve a medical officer from his duty at night. I was appointed for the night-shift and had to relieve my co-worker from his evening shift.

Which way I greet a person whom I am meeting at night 10 o'clock (or for that sake up till midnight). One ore thing, this is the case wherein I'm meeting that person for the first time in a 24-hr clock (day? night?).

Good evening doc! What's the order for the patients tonight (or is it today?)?
Good night doc! What's the order for the patients tonight (or is it today?)?
Good astronimical dusk (huh!) doc! What's the order for the patients tonight (or is it today?)?

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    I'd definitely prefer the 1st one. (evening, tonight) After midnight, I'd switch to (morning, this morning)
    – Jim
    Commented Jan 24, 2014 at 5:55
  • "Good astronimical dusk" is exceptionally strange. Where did you get that from? If you used that, the most likely reaction would be something like this thedistractionnetwork.com/images/goofy-babies-059.jpg
    – Tristan
    Commented Jan 24, 2014 at 13:31

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Good evening. Good night is definitely for good-bye's only, not as a greeting.

As to whether you'd use "today" or "tonight", that might be a convention of that profession, or that particular set of people, so I don't think anyone can give you a single good answer for that.

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  • That's because the medical order (of medicines) are for that night/morning. Say, one of the scheduled medicines is an injection to be given at 3 am. So collectively, what is the order for the patient tonight or today?
    – Maulik V
    Commented Jan 24, 2014 at 7:21
  • You could use both. "Tonight" would refer to the current time of day, but "today" could be seen as to refer to "this time around", "this work shift".
    – oerkelens
    Commented Jan 24, 2014 at 7:28
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    +1 for good night is definitely for goodbyes only. It would be wrong to greet someone with "goodnight".
    – starsplusplus
    Commented Jan 24, 2014 at 12:35

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