[The Wisdom of a Distracted Mind] Something for You...

Hello folks,

Now, while you're all out whooping up getting slobbering drunk and doing things that hopefully will only find you embarrassed for a could of weeks at most, here's a little slice of crazy to get the discussions going around you:

Hello took life in 1878 when Thomas Alva Edison said the first word through the newly invented telephone. Who really knows, the news media was not around at the time to give us an accurate account. He could have said, "Hullo," jokingly and mistakenly misprinted. The fact is that Hello was printed by Noah Webster's dictionary in 1883.


The telephone kept expanding, and so did the greeting. As the greeting "Hello" kept growing it soon became a general greeting. Webster's dictionary kept on printing "Hello" as a greeting word. Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) rejected the "Hello" greeting all his life. His greeting was "Ahoy, Ahoy!" The dictionaries became a standard foundation for the language and continued to promote the word as our standard greeting. We never questioned it; we took it for granted and learned it as it was always there..., and strangely enough it has become our most used word on a daily basis. "I" is the second. This negative phenomenon possibly has set its pattern. We have been too busy and too involved in our daily doings to see the whole picture. Until a person born in Kingsville, Texas questioned the connotation of the word "Hello." The "O" is not enough to hide the most negative word (Hell) printed in every dictionary! This greeting word "Hello" has been upon us for 117 years! Maybe subconsciously we have promoted and fueled the wrong message.


Let's now understand that we all have been misled. We should now put it behind us and call the 20th century negative and obsolete. We should now set a new example and set a new precedent! It is up to us now to make a change and start setting and paving a new road for our youth and ourselves. Let's show the rest of the world that we are united, friendly, and unique people.


Let's now begin working towards the next 100 years with a more harmonious, intelligent, and positive new universal greeting: "HEAVENO!" A symbol of Peace, friendship and Welcome! (link)

That's a sort of nutty you only find this time of year, folks. But, I'm wondering about the pronunciation of this new greeting. I mean, is it "Heave No?" After all, I know that if I say "Heave No" to someone, they'll probably slap me.

Maybe we say it as "Heaven-O." Of course, sounds more like some sort of super Jesus breakfast cereal than any sort of greeting.

Now, solely for the benefit of Emily who knows words, totally digs words, and she's not afraid to use them, here's the little chart from that page which shows a little "history of the word 'hello.'"

• 12th Century HALLOW Chaucer(1340) Europe
• 16th Century HALLOO Shakespeare(1564-1616) England
• 19th Century HULLO U.S.A
• 20th Century HELLO Thomas Alva Edison(1847-1931) New Haven, CT
• 21st Century HEAVENO Leonso Canales,Jr. (1940- ) Kingsville, TX

The funny thing is, this doesn't seem to be all that accurate to me. Unfortunately, I'm currently too lazy and woefully unambitious to ferret through my linguistic books and the OED to find out just how bang-on this etymology of the word "hello" actually is.

For what it's worth, Wikipedia has a couple of theories as to the origins of the word, but very little else of any use.

Fortunately, for humanity, this comical notion of Mr. Canales' has been bopping around since 1997, and it really doesn't show any sign of picking up steam, thankfully.

So, as you're whoopin' it up, and if someone says hello to you, do everyone a favor and say "hello" back to them. It's easy. It's efficient. And, if someone's drunk and trying to figure out just what the hell you mean by "Heave-no," I can pretty much promise their New Year's Eve will be far more confusing than it should be.

Anyway, have a great one, my friends (and occasional enemies), and remember: you don't have to be good, but you do have to be careful.

Until next year...

Party on,
Dan

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Posted By Dan to The Wisdom of a Distracted Mind at 12/31/2007 06:01:00 PM