Saying hello

Hello and welcome to today's post on various and hopefully thought-provoking concepts. The general greeting we use when welcoming a person the single word hello has been in use since the early 1800s. It was instituted or used to answer the telephone as we were no longer able to see the person we were addressing. It is said that it was replacing the word Hail, such as in hail Caesar, or hail to your grace. Hail generally meant good health to you. So it would seem we have gone from saying good health to hello, which was used to say are you there. 

So unless you are on the phone and you are saying hello (are you there) it seems a little strange, yet we use it all the same. So I was wondering if there might be a better way of greeting someone who we are looking at? We could continue with the standard “How are you doing”. But then again we generally do not care how they are when using this phrase, so it also seems a little strange. Greeting someone warmly with a handshake and a verbal statement intended to recognize their presence either neutrally or positively should not be that difficult. Perhaps hail is not a bad idea? Good health to you. 

Now you might have noticed I did actually use hello at the opening of this post, commentary, series of words. But then I could not see you and must only guess if indeed you were there. Do you have a preferred greeting? Perhaps something that fits your life better than the accepted hello? Such as “hey there”, or “yo”? 

Hail my friends, and my you day truly be blessed!