Not sure if I missed a joke here…it’s probably the most commonly recognized Hebrew phrase.
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Perhaps I should clarify that “mazal tov” is not “the equivalent phrase” I referred to… While “mazal tov” does indeed literally mean “good luck”, it is not a phrase you would use in any of the circumstances where “good luck” is said in English. As Wikipedia explains, it is used to congratulate on special occasions (birthdays, weddings, pregnancies, that sort of thing).
The phrase I meant is “behatzlacha”, בהצלחה, literally meaning “with success” and less literally “have success”, which is analogous to “good luck” in English (to be said before a game, a test, an endeavor, etc.). As mentioned, no luck is involved, so there is no implication that success will be a result of mere luck.
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I just want my opponents to have a Higgs boson because it is fundamental for our universe and it would be pretty hard to play go without it, so I often write “hi gg” at the beginning of the game.
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yeah that always happen to me
just say “H0”. 
Much faster and makes more sense than “gg” before game has even started.
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Would it be possible to play a game that is actually not a good game?
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Burn the heretic.
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I have used “Howzit!” quite a bit, which is a South African greeting meaning “Hello, how are you doing, I’m fine”, all rolled into one word. I’m not sure why, but a couple of people resigned immediately.
What’s that about?
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No idea, some odd culture clash maybe? I know “howzit” but don’t think it is quite like the “good game” greeting (or its acronym”), nevertheless I also don’t know why this should justify resigning immediately … maybe there were other reasons, like them realizing time settings, or komi, or HC stones, or lack thereof, or something else?
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I remember back when I played my first game on this site (my first ever game of Go), I used to be very confused as to why an anonymous player would greet their opponent. ‘gg’ was a phrase you’d hear at the end of a game (in other games I played). Naturally, when they first said “hi, gg” to me, I initially took that as a declaration of “Hi, game is already over, you’ve lost.” Suffice to say I was quite confused and frustrated in the start. Haha.
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I just responded to’gg’ in a game I played with the explanation that ‘gg’ before a game starts is usually rude and means that you think the game is going to be easy. I thought I was right and my opponent was wrong. Apparently, its a GO thing and I just learned about it in this thread.
Now I feel silly about bringing it up to my opponent(was a great game and we are playing again anyway)
I usually just say ‘gl hf’ which means good luck have fun. Just sounds cheerful and pleasant to me.
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Nothing stops you from explaining this again to your opponent, and I’m sure they’ll forgive you 
You could even link to this thread just to explain that you‘re not the only one who isn’t/wasn’t familiar with this tradition in online Go.
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If one is an oversensitive person, you can take offense at ANYTHING really. Even your ‘gl hf’ line can be construed as offensive by taking it that you think they need any luck to win.
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I personally tend to extend it to “have a gg” to avoid misunderstanding.
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I usually say “Onegaishimasu” at the start of a game of Go.
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A traditional Japanese greeting which literally translates to “Please take care of me” or “Please go easy on me”.
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I also don’t use GL which is a little habit I picked up from Jerry (ChessNetwork) whose theory is that "why would I wish luck for my opponent? I want to have the good luck! Thus, instead, I will say ‘have fun.’ "
For me, when I remember, I like to start my games with
Hi
let’s have a good game.
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To misquote Tolkien: ‘Do you wish me a good game, or mean that it is a good game whether I want it or not; or that you feel good about this game or that it is a game to feel good about?’ and ‘What a lot of things you do use Good game for! Now you mean that you want to get rid of me, and that it won’t be good until I move off.’
But seriously, when said at the start; it is a polite wish to ‘have a good game’ as mr555 says and if used at the end of a game, is an acknowledgement of a game well played. Perhaps we need a two letter abbreviation for ‘enjoy the game’.
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hi ntmy hf etg o tfamc gm,aicidsy,gageagn
Seriously, guys. The meaning of this is obvious:
Hi, nice to meet you, have fun, enjoy the game, onegaishimasu, thanks for accepting my challenge, good morning, and in case I don’t see you, good afternoon, good evening and good night.
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