[Ads-l] Antedating of "yo" (greeting)

[Jonathan Lighter]

"Yo!" meant "Hey!" before it meant "Hi!"

JL

On Fri, Jul 25, 2025 at 4:17 PM John Baker <
0000192d2eeb9639-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> That book does have a 1959 copyright. I’m not sure if this is the same
> sense of “yo.”
>
>
> John Baker
>
>
> > On Jul 25, 2025, at 3:40 PM, James Landau <
> 00000c13e57d49b8-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
> >
> > I recall seeing "yo" used as a greeting in at least one of the 87th
> Precinct stories by Ed McBain (pseud. for Evan Hunter).  I can't locate the
> one I remember, but Google Books gives a 1959 occurrence (and yes I know
> the problems with dating snippet views in Google Books).
> >
> https://www.google.com/books/edition/Til_Death/BVtRAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=yo%2Bed+mcbain&dq=yo%2Bed+mcbain&printsec=frontcover
> > James Landau
> > jjjrlandau at netscape.com
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


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