hollo / hullo/ hello / hi / hey as simple greetings

[Wilson Gray]

Wasn't there a character who lived in "Allen's Alley" who said....
Nope. That character said "Howdy, bub," not "Hey, bub."

-Wilson

On Feb 23, 2005, at 3:41 PM, Beverly Flanigan wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Beverly Flanigan <flanigan at OHIOU.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: hollo / hullo/ hello / hi / hey as simple greetings
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>
> I've got a new one (to me, at least):  A grad student told me "Hey,
> bub!"
> is commonly used among his friends, and the office assistant,
> listening in,
> said he uses it all the time.  (Both are 25-30, white.)  I asked if
> "bub"
> came from "bubba," and neither one knew; they've just absorbed it as a
> new
> address term for a friend, male or female.  Any comments?
>
> At 09:18 PM 2/22/2005, you wrote:
>> OED does a less than satisfactory job with "hello" and variants used
>> as
>> simple greetings rather than calls to people at a distance - or
>> interjections of surprise.  Part of the reason is no doubt the
>> ambiguity
>> of  early exx.
>>
>> Many of you will be familiar with the widespread canard that "hello"
>> was
>> invented by Thomas Edison specifically for use on the newfangled
>> telephone.
>>
>> Here is an early example of "hollo!" that looks like a simple
>> greeting.  (Naturally, not all doubt can be removed.)
>>
>> 1841 Leman Rede Sixteen-String Jack (London: G. H. Davidson, n.d.) 36
>> [characters nearly face to face] "Hollo, old boy!  I'm glad to see you
>> back again!"
>>
>> "Hi !" has followed an identical course. OED's 1862 may be misplaced,
>> however. And what's the word "car" doing in 1885?  It doesn't seem to
>> be a
>> railway car.
>>
>> By the time we get to F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1920, the cite for "Hi !"
>> shows unmistakably  the current usage.
>>
>> OED doesn't include the universal Southern U.S. "hey!" as an exact
>> equivalent of "hi!"  Dating this accurately will also be difficult.
>> (I
>> once thought only Gomer Pyle said it. Travel *is* broadening.)
>>
>> JL
>>
>>
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