Current Usage of "Hello"

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

I have a totally unscientific intuition that I first recall this in connection with MONTY PYTHON's
FLYING CIRCUS. If true, then the usage goes back to the 1970s (?) for US audiences. When it was actually used by someone in a US publication I don't know.

In a message dated 6/4/2005 6:45:21 AM Eastern Daylight Time, Fred Shapiro <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU> writes:

>The Historical Dictionary of American Slang gives, as its first citation
>for _hello_ 'interjection used to call attention to the foolishness of an
>idea, comment, etc.' a line from the film _Back to the Future_ (1985):
>"Hello? McFly?"  Would anyone hazard a guess as to whether this usage was
>coined or popularized by that film?
>
>Fred Shapiro
>
>
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