Ever say "Hi?"

[sagehen]

Dale Coye writes:
 >Hello is of course still .... what you say when you pick up the phone.<
~~~~~~~
Yes.   Being perfectly certain, a couple of days ago, when the phone rang
after an agreed-upon interval, that it was a friend calling back with some
information, I answered with "Hi."  Only it wasn't; and my reaction was (a
silent) Oooops! [It turned out to be a stranger writing a biography of
someone I had known half a century ago, who had been given my name as a
source.]
"Hi" also serves to lessen the tension sometimes, when someone appears
ill-at-ease.
A. Murie