I greet therefore I am

I am interested in greetings.  I wrote "Greet-ology" ten years ago.

http://fearfunandfiloz.blogspot.com/2010/04/greeting-ology.html

 This morning, three of us were walking through the neighborhood.  We said good morning to several neighbors but it seemed to me that sometimes we look down on the act of greeting.  I mentioned that Eric Berne wrote in "What Do You Say After You Say Hello" that greeting people was good for your spine and for the spine of the person greeted.  My friend said,"I greet, therefore I am."

I wrote the post on greeting well after experiencing both college and college teaching through the mechanism of greeting.  I enjoy trying to tailor a greeting to just the right voice tone and timing.  How far from the greeted should I be when I greet?  Does the greeted person seem to feel invaded ?  Does the greeted person smile back or growl?

Dictionary

hel·lo

həˈlō,heˈlō/

exclamation

exclamation: hello; exclamation: hallo; exclamation: hullo

1. 1.

2. used as a greeting or to begin a telephone conversation.

3. "hello there, Katie!"

synonyms:

hi, howdy, hey, hiya, ciao, aloha "hello, Maxie, how've you been?"

• British

• used to express surprise.

• "hello, what's all this then?"

• used as a cry to attract someone's attention.

• ""Hello below!" he cried"

• expressing sarcasm or anger.

• "hello! did you even get what the play was about?"

noun

noun: hello; plural noun: hellos; noun: hallo; plural noun: hallos; noun: hullo; plural noun: hullos

1. 1.

2. an utterance of "hello"; a greeting.

3. "she was getting polite nods and hellos from people"

verb

verb: hello; 3rd person present: helloes; past tense: helloed; past participle: helloed; gerund or present participle: helloing; verb: hallo; 3rd person present: halloes; past tense: halloed; past participle: halloed; gerund or present participle: halloing; verb: hullo; 3rd person present: hulloes; past tense: hulloed; past participle: hulloed; gerund or present participle: hulloing

1. 1.

2. say or shout "hello"; greet someone.

Origin

early 19th century: variant of earlier hollo ; related to holla.

Translate hello to

Use over time for: hello

Looking up "holla", I find "Ho - la" in French and

Holla | Define Holla at Dictionary.com

www.dictionary.com/browse/holla

As a command to get attention, from 1580s. As an urban slang form of holler (v.) and meaning "greet, shout out to," it was in use by 2003.

I find that in many circumstances, shortening "Good morning" as a wish for the other person to have a good day into merely "Morning" works well.  I suspect that if I were younger, I would accept "Hey!" more completely.  In my younger days, such a greeting was sometimes answered,"Hay is for horses."