Greeting

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Greetings are social customs or rituals to show attention or to confirm friendship or social status between individuals or groups of people meeting each other. Greeting habits are highly culture- and situation-specific and may change within a culture depending on social status. This topic excludes military and ceremonial salutes but includes rituals other than gestures.

Some epochs and cultures had very elaborate greeting rituals, e.g., greeting of a king.

Secret societies have clandestine greeting rituals that allow members to recognize common membership.

Contents

[edit] Spoken

Spoken greetings are customary or ritualised words or phrases used to introduce oneself or to greet someone. In English, some common verbal greetings are:

  • "Hello", "hi", and "hey" — General verbal greetings. The latter two are less formal. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first citation of "hey" is found as early as 1225, and is defined as "a call to attract attention . . . an exclamation to express exultation . . . or surprise." The English language's other monosyllabic greeting, "Hi", is actually much newer, having become popular in the 1920s. Many languages use the word as a greeting, though a variety of spellings exist, including "hei" and "hej".
  • "Good morning", "good afternoon", "good evening" — More formal verbal greetings used at the appropriate time of day. Note that the similar "good night" and "good day" are more commonly used as phrases of parting rather than greeting, although in Australian and New Zealand English "G'day" is a very common greeting.
  • "What's up?", "Sup?", "How's it going?", "Yo", and "What's happening?" — informal greetings used frequently
  • "How do you do?" Has two usages, depending on the country. For example in Ireland it should be treated as a salutation, whereas in England it should be treated as a question that requires an answer.
  • "Howdy" — Informal greeting. Derived from "how do you do," it is common in the rural regions of the United States.
  • "Howya?", "How'sa goin'?", "How's she cutting?", "How's tricks?", "What's the craic?" — Irish greetings. Although they are interrogative, it is not expected that they be answered.
  • "Fit Like Jockie?", and "Aw'Right" are Scottish greetings that pops up from time to time in conversation.
  • "Oioi" Derived from punk culture, now used as a generic greeting.

Verbal greetings in other languages may also be found at common phrases in different languages.

[edit] Spoken (Other than English)

  • Arabic: "Marhaba" (Marhaban in Classical Arabic) [1] (Hello - Greetings), "Sabah El-Kheir" (Good morning), "Massa'a El-Kheir" (Good evening)
  • French: "Coucou" (Hi), "Salut" (Hello and Goodbye), "Bonjour" (Good morning, Good afternoon), "Bonsoir" (Good evening)
  • German: "Hallo" (cognate with Hello), "Guten..." (Good, with a time of day appended to the phrase)
  • Hebrew: "Shalom" (Peace) or "Shalom Aleichem" (Peace unto you)
  • Japanese: "Ohayō gozaimasu" (Good morning), "Konban wa" (Good evening), "Konnichi wa" (Good day)
  • Korean: "Annyeong hasaeyo" (Are you in peace?)
  • Polish: "Cześć" (Hi / Bye), "Dzień dobry" (Good morning / Good day), "Jak się masz?" (How are you? / How are things? / What's up?)
  • Irish language; Irish Gaelic: "Dia dhuit" (God to you / God be with you), "Dia is Muire dhuit" (God and Mary to you / God and Mary be with you)
  • Italian: "Ciao" (Hi and Goodbye) or "Salve" (Hello)
  • Spanish: "Hola" (cognate with Hello), "Buenos Días"
  • Sinhala: "Ayubowan" (formal greeting - May you live long), or "Kohomadha" (very informal - How are you?)
  • Swedish: "Hej" (Hello), "God morgon" (Good morning), "Goddag" (Good day) or "Godkväll" (Good evening)
  • Tamil: language of South India: "Vanakkum" (Syllables: Va-nak-kum).
  • Malayalam: "Namaskaram" (Syllables: Na-mas-ka-ram).
  • Tibetan: "Tashi Delek" (May everything be well)
  • Thai: Sawasdee Krup/Ka (male/female)

[edit] Gestures

See also: Gesture

[edit] See also

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