It sounds uneducated and so American. When businesses use this as their opening email, I wonder who approved of it. Amateurs.
Informal and practically slang as it gets. When a business uses it as the opening to an email, I really question those in charge.
I’m a native Texan, aged 30, and it saying ‘Hey’ rather than ‘Hi’ or ‘Hello’ is very common.For example, saying ‘Hello’ to a co-worker in the hall comes off as sounding too formal, too snobby.’Hey, What’s Up?’ or ‘Hey, How’s it going?’ could be used to greet a colleague to either start a conversation or simply in passing.
Seeing the word hey is so cringe worthy
Hey has been around a long time . hey c.1200, variously, in Middle English, hei, hai, ai, he, heh, expressing challenge, rebuttal, anger, derision, sorrow, or concern; also a shout of encouragement to hunting this hyperlink dogs.
My mom is Swedish, so I grew up saying “Hey hey”, which, reading this, I realize should be “Hej, hej”, but no one in Missouri, where I grew up ever has said anything anything about it, several of my friends picked up the habit from me.
Odd? Old fashioned? Scots . Welsh . Northern Irish . er, isn’t one missing? Ah yes, the Engs! Scots tenth in medal table, were we an independent nation, Irish really good too, and the Welsh, and the Engs! You ask Who are the Engs? and I say they are the not odd and not old-fashioned word for the English. It may seem odd and old-fashioned to say the British did well, but get used to it, Jackie; 3rd in the world behind two nations with mega-huge populations feels good!
= ’nuff said (if you’ll excuse the colloquialism). But to get back to expat. English pubs and Irish pubs (which rarely have much to do with Ireland) in other countries are not the same as expat bars. Expat bars are where people living and working in a foreign country go. In Warsaw they are just as likely to be Polish pubs as any other. And it is hard to find a more efficient way of talking about the expat community. Or for example saying that you like to avoid the expat scene. One word and everyone understands what you mean. And foreigner really won’t do, because the word expat is used when I’m talking with other native speakers, to whom I’m definitely not a foreigner. (Couldn’t get out of using the dreaded ‘whom’ there!)
As a Southerner from NC, I find most of these comments ignorant. Hey is used in place of hello or to get someone’s attention when you see them in person. I say hello when I answer my phone. And it isn’t Swedish, at least not here. North Carolina was settled by Scots, Irish and Germans. The Swedes didn’t have anything to do with how we speak. So hey and yall is a part of my heritage and I am proud of it. Don’t care where it came from,don’t care if you don’t like it. I wish yall had picked up “yoos guys” instead and left hey, shrimp and grits and red velvet cake to the people of the South.
Well, Spence, as you mentioned it was the 60’s. And there was plenty of lame tv out there. But you kind of got me riled up with the stings to Appalacia. They (the Irish and the Scots) settled in the remote mountains to be left alone. Had enough of the English telling them how to do and when to do it.
Someone asked me how to respond to a text message (from a prospective employer) which began “Hey John” . My usual advice is use whatever they do – use “Dear” if they do, and “Hi” if they do – but, hey, “Hey” sounded just too informal, and “Dear” too formal, so the solution was “Hi ” + first name. “Hey” is NOT the same as ‘Hello’ or ‘Hi’
Yes – what’s wrong with that?
It’s possible that the origin of the greeting, “hey” goes back a very long time ago, like erican Navajo greeting, “Yata Hey”
I know sometimes people from the US might feel like they invented English but it’s not the case, sorry 🙂
