Back in my days in a corporate office, where the telephone was still the preferred means of communication, my peers and I developed a habit of answering calls without a greeting. The phone would ring and we’d simply answer with our name, like “John Smith…” and then wait for the caller to start the conversation. Whether this was an effort to be businesslike or a little intimidating can be debated. But it always felt awkward to me, like one of those greeting cards with nothing printed on the inside.
Did you know the origins of “hello” go back six hundred years? We’ve led with one version or another of the greeting countless times for centuries. Take your pick from “hi”, “hiya”, “hey”, “howdy”, and even “hellaw” down here in the South: human nature demands something of an icebreaker before a conversation gets underway. The no-greeting business calls I mentioned above suggest this is not a conversation, this is business. Otherwise we need a starter word. Think about it. How awkward would it be to hug, shake a hand, or fist-bump without uttering a single word?
The history of “hello” is dry and speculative but it’s safe to say most of us started using it as soon as we could speak. Then, inevitably, we either embraced the word as our greeting or moved on to one of its offspring. For me the preference was “hey”. I find myself using “hey” whether I’m meeting someone for the first time or they’re a long-time acquaintance. I tried “hey” on for size a long time ago and it suits me just fine.
How “hello” reduced to “hi” is anyone’s guess, but it makes sense in the framework of the not-so-Queen’s English we use in America. A Brit saying “hi” doesn’t sound quite right. An American? Pretty much what we expect. A Brit can substitute “Good morning” or “Good evening” for “Hello”, while Americans just go with “Morning” or “Evening”.
But even “hi” seems a little passé these days. I’m just as likely to get a Yo!, Sup!, or Hey-ya! from Millennials and younger. Furthermore, if you gave any of those generations the choice they’d rather greet you with a text than with their voice. That leads to a whole new approach to starting conversations. Who starts a text message with “Hello, Dave!” More likely it’s just “Dave…”, an emoji, or no greeting at all.
[Blogger’s note: My favorite instance of “hello” comes at the end of the movie Jerry Maguire. The line, “You had me at ‘hello'” has been recycled many times since but never as powerfully. Pretty much launched Renée Zellweger’s career in a single sentence.]
Beyond “hello” itself, the inflections of the voice convert the greeting into something else entirely. We demand attention by saying He-LLO!!! We question attention by saying HELLO? (… “is anybody home?”). And if we say “hello” quickly we’re suggesting we don’t have time for the conversation that follows. A greeting can make a lasting impression inside of a single word.
We’ve lived in the South for a little while now, and in that time we’ve learned a new approach when it comes to greeting one another. When we’re introduced to someone for the first time we often exchange “hey” as the greeting. When we see someone we already know we go with “hey hey”. I’m still trying on “hey hey” for size. It feels a little forced to someone who grew up in the West. Give me a few more years.
A decade or two from now a wholly new greeting will be out there; one we’ll never see coming (seriously, did you ever think “yo yo” would replace “hello”?) Maybe this new salutation will suit me or maybe I’ll flat out reject it. Either way, “hello” rests comfortably in my back pocket whenever I need it. Six hundred years of history suggests it’s not going anywhere in the next twenty.
Some content sourced from the BBC article, “‘Hullo, hillo, holla’, the 600-year-old origins of the word ‘Hello'”.
Life In A Word 
Howdy Dave! I so enjoyed this post article today.
Godspeed, John
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“Howdy” – good one!
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How interesting. Hey is really so informal. And, as you know, in America, formal is tossed out the window. Wonder what the Canadians use as their greeting…
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A couple of Canadians follow this blog so maybe they’ll weight in. For those who speak English, I’d expect the greeting habits to be similar to ours.
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Interesting as always, Dave. I’ve never given much thought to the various inflections people use when they say hello. You brought to mind the way my grandmother answered the phone, almost in birdsong fashion: “Hel-LO-o!” It suited her well–a woman of emotional equilibrium like no one else I’ve known. She never raised her voice or expressed anger; she was the epitome of cheerfulness, kindness, and patience. Nowadays we know who’s calling before we answer. That influences the way we respond, but I don’t think I could pull off Grandma’s half-sung version!
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You brought up a couple of great points here, Nancy. My own grandmother had a “sing-song” way about her speech too. I never thought much about it but it does suggest a kind of carefree attitude. And Caller ID, of course, changes everything about our greeting habits. It’s still a little unnerving when I call someone and they answer with “Hey Dave!” Finally, “emotional equilibrium” is a great way to describe a state of mind we could all use a little more of.
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Where I came from in California instead of “hello” or “hi” we’d often say, “Dude!” If it was someone we knew well it would be, “Hey Dude!”
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“Dude” was a little after my time. Maybe if I’d hung around California longer than the early 90s, although by then I was out of college and into the workforce. Seems a little “young” for an address to a business peer, no matter how familiar 🙂
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I don’t say it, but I kind of like ‘What’s up, buttercup.’
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Also “suck it up, buttercup”, right? And with your comment I couldn’t help remembering Tom Jones. Thanks – now I’ll have “What’s new, pussycat?” on the brain the rest of the day 🙂
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I’ve never thought about greetings like that before. I’d say I’m more of a “hi” then “hey”.
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You strike me as a “hi” girl, Lyssy (a compliment!)
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It’s the Midwest nice in me!
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A friend of mine from way back had a standard greeting of “say hey” instead of “hi” or “hello” and never said my name with that phrase. I always wondered about “say hey” as it seemed a bit odd to me, but never asked him about it. I’m not a big sports fan, only picking up knowledge by osmosis from the twice-hourly sports reports, or when the City of Detroit is hopped up about one of our local sports teams. Then, a couple of years ago Willie Mays died and in the many retrospectives about his career on the news and social media, I learned he was “The Say Hey Kid” and he said “say hey” to everyone he met because he met so many people and couldn’t remember everyone person’s name.
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I was going to question “Say Hey” until you brought up Willie Mays. Of course! Still, it does sound a little awkward as a greeting, esp. if not including someone’s first name. My daughter-in-law and son-in-law are both in that awkward early stage where they aren’t comfortable calling me “Dad” or “Dave”. So they don’t use any greeting at all. I’m getting used to being called, “How’s it going?” 🙂
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Well, it was a real revelation when Willie Mays died and I learned the story behind “Say hey”. The first time I heard my friend say that I wondered what the heck he was talking about. 🙂 That’s funny – well, “how’s it going” works, especially if they were together for a while before getting married, it would have been presumptuous to call you “Dad” and “Dave” would be nervy … they were brought up correctly. Most of the neighbors on our street are gone now, but I still called them “Mr.” or “Mrs.” and their last name even as an adult. I’d see my mom visibly bristle when various friends of the family and/or longtime neighbor’s kids addressed her as “Pauline”.
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My husband got “in trouble” at work for starting emails to colleagues with “Hey, [person’s name]” because it was unprofessional. He wasn’t going for professional. He was trying to be casual and familial, but whatever. He also answers the phone with a blend. He says, “Hello, this is Paul.” I think that’s a pretty decent way to go about it.
Me, I prefer answering business calls with, “‘Sup, homey?”
😉
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LOVE your greeting, Ilsa (and thanks for the LOL). It’s just so “you”. And good on your husband with his business call greeting. That hybrid works beautifully.
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Thanks, Dave. 🙂
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In our Corporate world, we used to answer the phone with just our last name.
I had very minimal contact with a security expert named GD who represented celebrity clients. I learned he had a subordinate answer his phone “GD” after I began explaining my business to “GD” and he interrupted and said, “I will connect you to GD.”
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Just the last name as a greeting seems abrupt, but culture certainly plays a part. And I never had the luxury of a subordinate to answer my calls like your security expert did. Would’ve saved me a lot of time and headache!
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It took me awhile to get used to the last name convention. I normalized it but after I retired, it once again seemed odd to me!
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Interesting post. I answer the phone hello, but say hi if I am seeing someone in person. For texts, often Hi Blank, if I am initiating the text, but sometimes nothing if I’m in a rush. But I find younger people tend to say Hey….but only a single hey! I have more difficulty with how to address someone in an email, but find hey really unprofessional….so usually, just Blank and then some dots…..before the first sentence.
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I’m with you on email greetings, Joni. I go more formal, with the first name followed by a colon. I figure my message may get into the hands of someone else (unlike a voice call) so you have to consider the potential for a broader audience. But I do use “hey” when in person with someone I know. According to you that makes me “younger”! 🙂
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You are younger! You’re only 64.
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I think I have used most of these at one time or another. Except for Hey Hey, because that one just doesn’t fit me.
I still use Hello when I don’t know who is calling (a rare occurrencenow), but usually answer HI Dave or Hey Dave if I know that it is Dave calling.
Now you have me wondering how Hello got chosen when people were figuring out early phone etiquette.
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The article I referenced gives several theories on the centuries-ago origins of “hello”. It’s one of those little habits in life I’ve never thought much about, and simply adopted the word like everybody else.
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Fun post!
My business line I answer with the name of my business, and my personal cell I just say Hello or Oi (when is a Brazilian calling).
Blessings!
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“Oi”… I’m sure that’s a new one on most Americans!
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