Only in East Texas? More widespread?

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>What I find so interesting about this is that the rule kicks in only
>when the two people can't see each other. How in hell did that
>constraint ever come about?

I don't know, and I don't know that I'm familiar with this /hu/.

Just as a wild guess, maybe it's "Who?" originally, i.e. "Who's calling
me?" or so.

Does /hu/ appear when the identity of the caller is absolutely clear? For
example, imagine that I'm a user of this /hu/ and my wife is making
repeated remarks to me as I putter around the house, and nobody else is
present. Every 5 minutes or so, she calls my name with some new notion:
sometimes I'm in the same room, other times not. Must I respond /hu/ if I'm
one foot out of sight in the next room but something else (maybe "What?")
if I've moved over a foot so I'm visible? Suppose I can see her but she
can't see me? Suppose I can see her feet but not her face? Suppose we're
only a few inches apart but the room is completely dark? Would only the
first call be answered with /hu/, or might an addendum one minute later get
a /hu/ too?

-- Doug Wilson