“Hello” and “hi” are synonyms.
But you sound like a damned fool if you pick up a phone and ask: “Hi?”
How did a greeting-turned-question become the go-to phone-answering choice?
What are we asking?
“Can I greet you?”
“Is it acceptable to you that I have engaged you in conversation?”
“DO WE EVEN EXIST?”
The greeting has come to feel like we are in a way that makes very little sense asking for the identity of the caller.
But in this age of caller ID, that feeling has been removed from the equation.
We know who is calling us, and the gap between being approached by someone on a street and taking their call is narrowing.
Imagine doing this after seeing your friend walking toward you in a bar.
Imagine asking him: “Hey?”
…then waiting for his response.
I move that we eliminate the “Questioning Hello” from our language, and replace it with something more appropriate to our day and age.
What should it be?
…hello?
