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Fun Facts: World Hello Day

3 min read
by
13 October 2020
students saying hello

Hello! You might not know but November 21st was World Hello Day. It’s an annual event which celebrates communication and peace. It is really easy to get involved. Find out how people take part and learn some fun facts about the word hello.

The aim of World Hello Day is to say hello to at least ten people. Greeting people is supposed to show that conflicts can be settled by talking instead of violence. World Hello Day was started in 1973 by Brian and Michael McCormack. It was created in response to the Yom Kippur War. The day is now observed by people in more than 180 countries worldwide.

"Hello" originally came from Old High German, "halâ, holâ", which was a strong term used especially when hailing a ferry driver. This also connects the development of hello to the influence of an earlier form, holla, whose origin is in the French holà. that means "whoa there!", which came from the French word là, or there.

The inventor Thomas Edison is the reason why people use hello. He was surprised by a phone and expressed this with a misheard “hullo”. 

Hello was first used in print in 1833 and became popular from the 1860s. The word “ahoy” was originally intended to be the way to answer a telephone, but "hello" stuck.

 

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Fun Facts About the Word Hello:

Different ways to say Hello in English include:

  • Hi
  • Hey
  • How's it going?
  • Howdy
  • Yo
  • How's tricks? (UK)

Famous songs with Hello in the title:

  • Beatles - Hello, Goodbye
  • Jonas Brothers - Hello Beautiful
  • Doors -Hello, I Love You
  • Bon Jovi - You Had Me From Hello
  • Lionel Richie - Hello

 

In computer programming, there is a basic program called "Hello World", which is meant to be a way for students to easily understand how computer programs are built.

There are at least 42 other languages that use a greeting very similar to "hello".

Did you observe World Hello day? How do you say hello in your language? Let Kaplan know by posting a message on our Facebook wall.

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