Some of the words in our life are used so frequently and we never ponder why do we use them? Hence, I have taken the word “Hello”and this article presents my perspective about saying the word “hello” as we pick up our phones in case of a ringing bell or just meeting someone or gaining somebody’s attention. It actually is a very interesting phenomena, if we think about it, and wonder why this word. Let us explore some of the reasons why humans do this.
Because we witness other people doing it J
One of the reasons of saying Hello on our phones is pretty obvious, i.e., it is something we learned from our parents, relatives and society. Whenever, a phone rang in our house, or school, the person was greeted by a hello, and that is how we developed the habit of saying “Hello”.
It serves as a Receipt!
We do really show the courtesy of accepting a person’s phone call by a greeting compliment, which is Hello! Obviously, if somebody is knocking at our door we cannot remain silent. We need to show him that we are aware of his/her arrival at our house. Similarly, when shopping, we get a receipt of acknowledgment of our payment in return of the items purchased.
It is simple but varies culturally:
| Hello! |
Often the word Hi is used, but Hello is the most common among people with English as their first Language. It is definitely a very simple word to use to greet somebody on phone or meet in person. Although different cultures often have different words e.g. Muslims use Assalam-o-Alaikum, Sikhs use Sasriakal. These words all serve the purpose of greeting a person and showing your willingness to talk. It actually also varies from different countries irrespective of the same language English spoken. For example, if you pay a visit to Sheffield, UK; people normally greet you by saying “Hi there” or “Hi, are you alright?” which only means that “Hi, do you need anything or any help?” Interesting, isn’t it?
Overall here I have presented some possible reasons behind saying the word hello, on picking up a ringing phone. It summarizes the importance of human communication and signals the importance of a starting word to initiate a conversation. Whatever the reasons, or languages, humans like to say words of greetings to their fellow humans, which forms the basis of a commonly used word “Hello” so rapidly in our lives. It is actually quite fun to think about some phrases we use quite often and discover the reasons behind using them.
Thanks for reading!
Best Wishes
Maha
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