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I know the russian word 'пока' has a number of meanings, the most prevalent one being the informal 'bye'. In some contexts, however, I have come across 'пока-пока', but couldn't find much info about the use of this.

Is it just a "cutesy" way of saying bye? In which situations would this be used (over пока)?

2 Answers 2

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Yes, it's a babyish way to say bye, similar to English "bye-bye".

It can be used whenever English "bye-bye" would be used, and I believe is a Russian calque of the English word.

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  • 1
    "Therefrom" probably died as a word a couple hundred years ago, by the way—well unless you're a lawyer))
    – VCH250
    Sep 30, 2015 at 18:57
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    @VCH250: it sounds so cool!
    – Quassnoi
    Sep 30, 2015 at 19:57
  • @ Quassnoi it is cool, to be honest; but at the same time it's very very formal. I read lots of Science papers (from journals) and I've never seen it. It could be used, and it could become popular again, but for now I'd avoid it))
    – VCH250
    Oct 1, 2015 at 20:11
  • @VCH250 i too insist on using it and other pronominal adverbs, if German has them why not English? and they remind me of Russian and Hebrew because they are built almost synthetically... they're underappreciated Oct 7, 2018 at 18:46
  • In writing it would be fine, I think. In speech you would have to work it in seamlessly. A listener would probably think they heard something like "from there" which is the same idea in any case.
    – VCH250
    Oct 8, 2018 at 19:41
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It is common and familiar but not babyish. Our Russian friends and family relatives use it all the time

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