Re: All-important phrases

Christopher Wright scripsit:

> I guess "hello" is related to "health",
Nope, it's just a noise for attracting someone's attention a long way
away.  Until the invention of the telephone, people didn't use it in
close-up circumstances, but it caught on in a big way when phones became
popular, because you had to yell into them anyway.  (Bell himself
favored "Ahoy hoy!").  Then it spread from phone use to face-to-face use.

An earlier form was "hollo" (also spelled "holloa"); the verb "holler"
originally meant to make a "hollo" noise.

--
Deshil Holles eamus.  Deshil Holles eamus.  Deshil Holles eamus.
Send us, bright one, light one, Horhorn, quickening, and wombfruit.
Send us, bright one, light one, Horhorn, quickening, and wombfruit.
Send us, bright one, light one, Horhorn, quickening, and wombfruit.
Hoopsa, boyaboy, hoopsa!  Hoopsa, boyaboy, hoopsa!  Hoopsa, boyaboy, hoopsa!
  -- Joyce, _Ulysses_, "Oxen of the Sun"       jcowan@reutershealth.com