How many ways to say hello?

SpookyWriter · Mar 13, 2007

I really need to keep track of my dialogue and how people speak at times. I was doing a little exercise for my wip improvement project and started to think "Just how many ways can you say hello?".

I would suppose demographics play a part in how someone would greet another person.

"Howdy" -- could be Midwesterner or a rural person?

Any other suggestions or ideas?

David McAfee · Mar 13, 2007

Hi. Yo. Aloha. Hola. S'up. Howdy.

Cav Guy · Mar 13, 2007

Howdy is also *very* Western. "S'up?" is more urban or casual, depending on time and place.

The era of caller ID has changed how people say hello on the phone (cell or landline) in very dramatic ways. Now it can be some sort of casual insult or joke, or launching in with a continuation of a conversation that was started earlier in the day.

There are still folks out there who use "good morning" or "good afternoon" in place of hello when they first see someone.

"How's it goin'?" is also used, though again it may be a bit more informal.

Just off the cuff stuff...

Troo · Mar 13, 2007

Bonjour. Guten tag. Ciao. Ohayo gozaimas. Oi, fagbreath.

maestrowork · Mar 13, 2007

Just cut out greetings and goodbyes in your dialogue. Go right into the meat of the conversation.

johnzakour · Mar 13, 2007

Hey...

What's up...

What's shaking...

Ciao (but that may be just for good bye...)

johnzakour · Mar 13, 2007

maestrowork said:
Just cut out greetings and goodbyes in your dialogue. Go right into the meat of the conversation.

Depends what you are writing.

It's nice to have a greeting now and then. It makes the conversations more natural.

Actually, when I'm writing for Rugrats I find the greetings to be extra helpful because they allow character introductions to be smoother. It lets you reinforce a characters name without seeming like you are forcing it.

AbsintheFiend · Mar 13, 2007

johnzakour said:
Ciao (but that may be just for good bye...)

Ciao is an informal greeting in Italian that's used for both hello and goodbye...
Bonjourno is specifically used as a 'hello' and only hello... but its really translated to good day (I think, maybe good morning... ) and buonasera is 'good night'... and arrivederci is a 'goodbye' ... and this isn't an Italian lesson so I'll stop there.

Ciao

scarletpeaches · Mar 13, 2007

maestrowork said:
Just cut out greetings and goodbyes in your dialogue. Go right into the meat of the conversation.

Maestro said 'meat'. :ROFL:

SpookyWriter · Mar 13, 2007

johnzakour said:
Depends what you are writing.

It's nice to have a greeting now and then. It makes the conversations more natural.

Actually, when I'm writing for Rugrats I find the greetings to be extra helpful because they allow character introductions to be smoother. It lets you reinforce a characters name without seeming like you are forcing it.

Not only that, but it's also a way to introduce the speaker and where they're from or reside. Yes?

scarletpeaches · Mar 13, 2007

Conversations in books aren't natural though. They must have the ring of truth, but if we were to write down everything people say, there would be a lot of umming and ahhing, conversation threads that go nowhere, false information, repetition, backtracking...Yes we greet each other when we meet, in many different ways, but such can often look like padding when used in a novel.

IrishScribbler · Mar 13, 2007

When greeting someone I know, I usually say "How are you?" instead of "Hi" or whatever else.

ORION · Mar 13, 2007

Scarletpeaches is right on...
I totally agree.
Take a look at some good dialogue in books and many times the conversation leaps forward over the mundane "fluff"
The point of dialogue is to move the plot forward not to necessarily be "real"

NeuroFizz · Mar 13, 2007

I agree with Ray (and Scarlet)--salutations and sign-offs are frequently omitted in dialogue. However, there are times when a good greeting can say quite a bit about the characters:
"Hey, man. Getting it wet?"
This could imply a familiarity between the two, indicate their level of inter-personal sophistication, suggest something about where their minds are spinning, and set up the reader for at least the one character's habit of speaking in rather crass slang.

scarletpeaches · Mar 13, 2007

I never ask people how they are. I usually say "Hi," "All right?" or give them a grunt.

maestrowork · Mar 13, 2007

There are always exceptions, and sometimes greetings are necessary.

"Hello," he said. "I just want to say..."
She hushed him. "You had me at 'hello.' "

As for introducing speakers, there are much better ways to do so than to use greetings EVERY TIME you start a dialogue. And sometimes it's just not necessary at all:

Jack stopped Eric on the street.

"I can't believe it," Jack said.
"How long has it been?"

In case that one or both speakers are not known, there are ways to introduce them before the dialogue begins:

He approached the girl carefully, not wanting to frighten her. She didn't respond at first, and when he asked her name again, she looked up and sighed.

"Jenny," she said. "They called me that."

There are times when a greeting is part of the story:

"Hi," he said, his voice shaking. "May I -- may I have this dance, please?"
She nodded. Yes.

SpookyWriter · Mar 13, 2007

I guess hello isn't always the best way to greet someone. Here's another method. I agree with Ray. There are times when greeting someone isn't just a hi, how are you situation.

Big Hoss approached the two strangers. "What the heck you doing in my rose bushes?"

Troo · Mar 13, 2007

If it helps, a greeting between myself and a friend I haven't seen in a few months went like this over the weekend:

Him: (As he steps in alongside me from out of the crowd) Keep walking. I'm armed.
Me: The red cow flies south at midnight.

Niteowl · Mar 13, 2007

All my characters approach each other and exclaim, in their loudest oratory voices, " HAIL TO YOU OH STRANGER! Or friend of endless days!! Hail and a good day and night and middle afternoon as well!" And then, in a softer, dulcet tones, "And shall the wind always be blowing the halitosis of your creepy step uncle away from you."

It goes on for a few more paragraphs after this. And hot dang, my hero hasn't made it out of his village on his Big Quest, and I'm almost at 80k words! I don't know what everyone is always griping about how word-counts are hard to make.

johnzakour · Mar 13, 2007

maestrowork said:
As for introducing speakers, there are much better ways to do so than to use greetings EVERY TIME you start a dialogue. And sometimes it's just not necessary at all:

I agree, but there are times when they do help flow seem more natural.

One thing that took me forever to learn when writing comic strips and comic books is that you need to mention the characters name much more often than you do in real life conversations. So by adding the greeting it tended to make the names flow smoother and not look like I was adding names just to add name. (Though I was.) Of course that's a different beast but part of that may apply to novels too. In thinking about my own novels I probably use less greetings and more naming of names. Than I do in real life.

But that just may be me...

Shady Lane · Mar 13, 2007

I never say anything but Hey, at least to people my own age.

That's a thing--a lot of times the way I greet someone (or the way my characters greet someone, for that matter) depends much less on me than on the person to whom I'm speaking. "Hey, what's up?" would be someone by own age, while "Hi, how are you?" is to one of my friend's parents.

I don't think I've ever actually said Hello, come to think of it.

kdnxdr · Mar 13, 2007

My icky ex used to answer the phone "Joe's Bar and Grill!" or "Your dime!" He didn't care who was on the other end of the phone.

Will Lavender · Mar 13, 2007

kdnxdr said:
My icky ex used to answer the phone "Joe's Bar and Grill!" or "Your dime!" He didn't care who was on the other end of the phone.

The first time I heard him say "Your dime!," I would have probably walked out the front door and never turned around. That's...bizarre.

I'm going to use it one day in a story, though, so watch for it.

That greeting says so much about a person's personality, doesn't it?

kdnxdr · Mar 13, 2007

Please make the character really, really creepy and disgusting.

Vincent · Mar 13, 2007

G'day - Aussie.

How many ways to say hello?

SpookyWriter

David McAfee

God of Squirrels

Cav Guy

Living in the backstory

Troo

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

johnzakour

Dangerous with a Keyboard

johnzakour

Dangerous with a Keyboard

AbsintheFiend

scarletpeaches

SpookyWriter

scarletpeaches

IrishScribbler

ORION

Sailed away years ago

NeuroFizz

The grad students did it

scarletpeaches

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

SpookyWriter

Troo

Niteowl

johnzakour

Dangerous with a Keyboard

Shady Lane

my name is hannah

kdnxdr

One of the most important people in the world

Will Lavender

Everything is what it seems.

kdnxdr

One of the most important people in the world

Vincent

Cheers