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

[James Smith]

Several of my 70- to 80-something neighbors routinely
say "Hey, bud" or "Hey, buddy".  I think of "bub" as
just a variant on "bud".



--- Beverly Flanigan <flanigan at OHIOU.EDU> wrote:

> 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
> >
> >
> >---------------------------------
> >Do you Yahoo!?
> >  Yahoo! Mail - You care about security. So do we.
>


=====
James D. SMITH                 |If history teaches anything
South SLC, UT                  |it is that we will be sued
jsmithjamessmith at yahoo.com     |whether we act quickly and decisively
                               |or slowly and cautiously.



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