Know this word from another angle? Add a correction, a nuance, or a usage note. New posts go public after a quick review.
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Lively Hamster
Jul 16
en español hello y hola se parecen, pero no los mezclaría. hello suena muy de teléfono para mí
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Tranquil Giraffe
Jul 15
hello is one of those words that looks easy until you try to teach all the tones
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Lucky Pigeon
Jul 9
Hullo is not a typo in British books. It is just another spelling and pronunciation, often a bit old fashioned or character voice now. I wouldnt write it in a normal international email unless I was doing a style on purpose
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Quiet Impala
Jul 9
In emails, people fight about the comma more than learners expect. Hello, John is the clean grammar answer for direct address, but Hello John, looks normal to a lot of people in quick email. Hello, John, feels fussy unless you really want that little pause.
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Rustic Swallow
Jul 7
If you need a stranger's attention, hey is the risky one, not hello. Hey, how much is this? to a shop worker can land as rude. Excuse me is the boring safe version.
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Happy Okapi
Jul 8
My mom still says hay is for horses whenever someone yells hey at her lol
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Smoky Nightingale
Jul 1
On a home phone, Hello? with the rising voice is normal for many people. Some older etiquette says give your name or number, but with spam calls now plenty of us really dont want to do that.
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Jovial Gull
Jul 2
Business phone is different though. If I call a clinic and they just say hello? I wonder if I got the wrong number
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Grand Oriole
Jun 20
Careful with Hello dear. In a lot of learner emails it is meant politely, but to native English ears it can sound over intimate, patronising, or straight up spammy if the person is a stranger. Dear Mr Patel is normal, Hello dear Mr Patel is not.
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Frosty Gopher
Jun 23
yes this is a very Indian email habit, we copy Dear Sir from letters and then put dear everywhere
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Trusty Bear
Jun 15
The Edison story gets repeated in a weird way: he helped make hello the phone word, but he didnt invent it. Older hello/hallo was more of a shout for attention. Bell wanting ahoy for calls still makes me laugh because imagine every office call starting like a boat.
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Noble Zebra
Jun 19
i would answer every work call with ahoy if HR allowed it