Hello
Have you noticed how many different spellings there are for this greeting, and how each of those spellings indicates a different tone or meaning? For example, 'hallo' sounds offensively jolly, possibly derived from a hunting-cry and very public-schooly and outdoorsish. 'Hullo' looks rather glum, and 'hollo' both glum and eccentric - too much like Tennyson's 'Hollow, hollow, hollow, all delight'. 'Hello' is sort of the vanilla of hellos (or vanello of hillas), bland and unappetising but fits most situations. Of course all this is entirely culturally determined - I'm sure speakers of languages other than British English see the problem in quite another light. I have adopted 'Hiya' as a greeting in written usage, but when spoken, I find my friends and colleagues tend to hear it as 'How are ya?' and give unnecessarily long replies. So let me know your favourite (clean) salutation and help me in my campaign for culturally non-specific greetings.Conversations
| Conversation Title | Latest Post | Latest Reply |
|---|---|---|
| Peterboroughphilia | Jun 23, 1999 | Jul 2, 2003 |
| My name's Alice, too | Aug 19, 1999 | Nov 9, 1999 |
| Well meaning friends | Aug 16, 1999 | No Replies |
| Pudding | Jun 23, 1999 | Jul 28, 1999 |
| Life mirroring art. | Jun 17, 1999 | Jul 2, 1999 |
Researcher 43259
Researcher U43259
Entries
Most Recent Edited Entries
- This user has not written any Edited Entries.
Entries
- This user has not written any Edited Entries.
Disclaimer
h2g2 is created by h2g2's users, who are members of the public. The views expressed are theirs and unless specifically stated are not those of Not Panicking Ltd. If you consider any Entry to be in breach of the site's House Rules, please register a complaint. For any other comments, please visit the Feedback page.
Write an Entry
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a wholly remarkable book. It has been compiled and recompiled many times and under many different editorships. It contains contributions from countless numbers of travellers and researchers."