Talk:hey
Regional usage as an alternative to 'hi'
"(US, Australia, Canada) An informal greeting, similar to hi." Surely this should also say the UK now also? Despite this meaning not being used historically, it's ubiquitous now. 31.220.218.59 15:47, 14 May 2018 (UTC)
Etymology
Isn't this from Scandinavian hej? Smiddle / TC@ 14:42, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
- No, this is a natural expression that arises spontaneously in virtually every language, with almost the same sound and same meaning. —Stephen 19:34, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
- It may be a natural expression, but it most likely comes to English via Scandinavian. Leasnam 15:45, 28 October 2011 (UTC)
Tracking down another meaning
I was looking at a random place in Google maps (Specifically, West Derby, Liverpool, UK) and ran across many street names ending in Hey. Anyone have a clue where this came from, or what it might be derived from? I saw only a few mentions of this usage of 'Hey' anywhere on the internet. It is a very hard word to search for. — 08:17, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
- We had this in the entry: As a component of some English place names, it is a disused old word for "hedge" or "area of land enclosed by a hedge". However, I have removed that since it was misplaced and may not be a stand-alone modern English word at all. Please re-add with correct formatting etc. if applicable. Equinox ◑ 12:54, 23 December 2017 (UTC)
Uncountable noun
It's obviously not a well-known noun, but I see it's been entered as uncountable. Surely not. You could have heys couldn't you?
Meaningless beat-marker?
Well then it's not a word. Are we to define every meaningless sound? How about uh?
- Most definitely uh. If a word has a standard written form, such as hey, huh, hmm, er, or uh, we like to have it described and explained. —Stephen 19:27, 20 March 2008 (UTC)
Another sound-alike
I've added the term "hè" from the Southern Unami dialect, popularly called Lenape, a North American indigenous language formerly spoken in the Delaware Valley. It is well-recorded that this was the general greeting in that language, as verified by the official Lenape Talking Dictionary of the Delaware Tribe and many other academic sources accessible online. Having a Native American language bolsters the "natural expression" argument which so far only includes Sino-Tibetan, Indo-European, and Uralic examples. --74.103.150.125 09:17, 21 June 2011 (UTC)
/hai/ interjection
Cann't this iterjection be pronounced as /hai/ as well? --Backinstadiums (talk) 22:08, 6 October 2019 (UTC)
What is the register?
I am not an anglophone. What is the register of «hey»? Is it not considered impolite to address with "hey"? (unknown, or older people, or in website discussions? Is it not assumed that the other person is a friend?) Thank you. ‑‑Sarri.greek ♫ I 15:51, 20 February 2023 (UTC)