Ciao is one of the most borrowed words from the Italian language. Indeed, good old Wikipedia tells me that it has been adopted as a salutation in more that thirty different languages! It even serves a dual purpose, being the word for both 'hello' and 'goodbye'.
And yet, not many people know the etymology of this informal greeting. Thanks to the ingenius Mark Forsyth and his love of words (his blog is definitely worth a look http://blog.inkyfool.com/), I now know that every time I utter the word 'ciao' to another person, I am actually declaring myself their servant. The Italians really are there to help.
The word derives from the Venetian phrase sciào vostro (in Italian schiavo vostro) or s-ciào su literally meaning "I am your slave". It was then later shortened to 'ciao' (lazy slaves they are!). And so, if etymology is anything to go by, you are within your right to demand anything of a person that greets you with 'ciao'. That's handy.
Of course, for all you serious readers, 'Ciao' does not literally mean 'enslave me!', it just means that Italians are there for each other. We've got to think about Political Correctness, you know.
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