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

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

I looked through some books by Ed McBain (Evan Hunter; Salvatore
Albert Lombino) in the Internet Archive. McBain used "yo", but the
meaning varied. I did not see any unambiguous greetings (in my
opinion).

Below "yo'" seems to mean "you"

Date: 1956 Copyright (April 1969 reprint)
Book Title: The Mugger
Author: Ed McBain
Publisher: Dell Publishing, New York
Quote Page 102
Database: Internet Archive

[Begin excerpt]
"We can talk 'bout yo' husbin an' mah wife, how's that?
Ah got th' sweetes' li'l wife in th' whole wide world."
[End excerpt]

Below "Yo?" seems to mean "Hey?"

Date: 1958 Copyright (2000 reprint)
Book Title: Lady Killer
Author: Ed McBain
Publisher: Compass Press, Oxford
Quote Page 120
Database: Internet Archive

[Begin excerpt]
>From the clerical office outside the railing, Miscolo's head appeared.
“Yo?” he said.
"You got any milk in there?"
[End excerpt]

Below "Yo?" seems to mean "Heh?"

Date: 1959 Copyright (1978 reprint)
Book Title: King's Ransom
Author: Ed McBain
Publisher: Penguin Books, New York
Quote Page 195
Database: Internet Archive

[Begin excerpt]
'Yo?' a voice from the clerical office shouted.
'Make some Joe.'
[End excerpt]

Below "Yo?" seems to mean "Heh?" or "Huh?"

Date: 1959 Copyright (1975 reprint)
Book Title: 'Til Death
Author: Ed McBain
Publisher: A Signet Book: New American Library, New York
Quote Page 103 and 104
Database: Internet Archive

[Begin excerpt]
They crossed the hall and knocked on the door. A young man in a short
beard and a terry-cloth bathrobe opened it.
"Yo?" he said.
"Police," Meyer said. He flashed the tin.
"Man, dig the badge," the man in the bathrobe said.
[End excerpt

Below "Yo!" seems to mean "Yeah!" and then "OK!".

Date: 1962
Book Title: Like Love
Author: Ed McBain
Publisher: Simon and Schuster, New York
Quote Page 166
Database: Internet Archive

[Begin excerpt]
"Miscolo!" he yelled.
"Yo!" Miscolo yelled back from the Clerical Office.
“Bring in some iodine and some Band-Aids, will you?"
"Yo!" Miscolo answered.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Fri, Jul 25, 2025 at 4:54 PM Jonathan Lighter
<00001aad181a2549-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>
> "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
> >
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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