‘Hello’ is a common greeting, a simple five letter word that might appear uncomplicated and not worthy of note but delve a little deeper and it is surprising the power it has.
“Hell-oh”. Who could forget the famous or was it infamous, well known English actor, Leslie Philips who as a suave charmer with an exaggerated upper-class accent, was famed for his naughty greeting when a young attractive female was within bating distance!
Then there’s the slow-motion hello. This is a useful one. You know the scenario: you’re in the supermarket pushing the trolley down the aisle desperately trying to recall the dozen grocery items which you’ve left on the list under the fridge magnet at home. You turn the corner, and there right in front of you, is someone you’ve known for years. Indeed, you know that face so well, but what is their name? This is where the slow but friendly ‘H e l l o’ comes into its own, often promptly followed by a similarly slow “h o w l o v e l y t o s e e y o u, h o w a r e y o u ?” If you are lucky this delaying tactic will enable you to get a response which may give some hint as to their identity. Failing this you must keep the conversation very general “gosh, it’s chilly in here isn’t it?” or “have you tried the salted caramel cake – pure evil…” and other such neutral waffle. The slow ‘hello’ is particularly useful if you have the double misfortune to have your partner with you, because then you’ve given yourself a few extra seconds to think and discover if your partner can recall their name. However, it is of course bad news if your partner displays no recognition at all, because ideally you should now be doing an introduction. Unless your other half has the wit to introduce themselves (highly unlikely) and thus the friend coughs up his/her name. A useful get-out-clause is to instantly send your partner on an urgent errand for something at the far end of the store which you know the supermarket doesn’t stock! Long live the slow-motion hello.
There are enticing ‘hellos’ usually linked to the parting of money such as when you enter the restaurant. “Oh, hello, please do come in. A table for eight, ah yes, the window table is now free if you’d just follow me…” If you enter a mobile phone shop shortly before Christmas, everyone wants to say ‘hello’ to you and not by a free texting method!
Warmer, more natural ‘hellos’ are kept for family or friends and a semi warm but slightly more guarded version for strangers. For job seekers it is important that the interviewer gets their greeting correct but even more important that the interviewee gets their ‘hello’ response pitched correctly. Whatever the job, you don’t want to be too cool and say, horror of horrors ‘Hi’ when greeting your prospective boss. You don’t want to mutter into your shoes and be so timid no one can hear your ‘hello’, or in contrast spit it out too forcefully as if you were clearing your airways before an asthma attack.
A foreign ‘hello’ has an added attraction and is very memorable. Few of us will have escaped the French version in “‘Allo, ‘Allo” in the well-known BBC sitcom broadcast from 1982.
It would probably be impossible for us to exclude the greeting ‘Hello’ in our vocabulary and why would we want to? Recently even the singer song-writer Adele created a heart wrenching track entitled ‘Hello’, (only to be listened to in a dark room with a glass of wine and large box of tissues).
Finally, who could forget Lionel Ritchie’s 1984 lovesick song ‘Hello’:
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“I’ve been alone with you inside my mind And in my dreams I’ve kissed your lips a thousand times I sometimes see you pass outside my door Hello, is it me you’re looking for?” |
Ahh, who would ever get tired of that?
Hello is definitely here to stay.
