Phrases/words that set your teeth on edge.

[vinteuil]

Over the last few years in almost all the popular American tv Cop, Fire, Medical series instead of using the greeting 'Hello' they invariably say 'Hey' answered by 'Hey'. I'm listening out if this has caught on here in the UK but I'm not sure it has yet.

... I don't feel it has caught on here much (yet). At least not quite in the US ("hello") usage as a stand-alone (which I certainly recall from CSI and The Mentalist.) But I do hear my stepsons (in their twenties) shouting out "Hey, you guys... " rather than *"Hi, you guys..."

To me "Hey!" still has connotations of displeasure / distress - "hey! what do you think you're doing?!".

[Stanfordian]

... I don't feel it has caught on here much (yet). At least not quite in the US ("hello") usage as a stand-alone (which I certainly recall from CSI and The Mentalist.) But I do hear my stepsons (in their twenties) shouting out "Hey, you guys... " rather than *"Hi, you guys..."

To me "Hey!" still has connotations of displeasure / distress - "hey! what do you think you're doing?!".

I watch 'Blue Bloods' which is peppered with it!

[gurnemanz]

I do notice many email messagers begin with "Hey" rather than "Hi".

Maybe "Ahoy, there!" will make a comeback.

[vinteuil]

.

Maybe "Ahoy, there!" will make a comeback.

... wiki reminds us : "Alexander Graham Bell originally suggested 'ahoy' be adopted as the standard greeting when answering a telephone, before 'hello' (suggested by Thomas Edison) became common... "


.

[Stanfordian]

Maybe "Ahoy, there!" will make a comeback.

Hey, I hope it does!

[Joseph K]

. Except when greeting my drug dealer, where "Wagwan?!"* seems more appropriate.

This is exactly how my (erstwhile) drug dealer greeted me.

[Stanfordian]

.

... o I think “Whassuuuuup?” works quite well. Except when greeting my drug dealer, where "Wagwan?!"* seems more appropriate.


[ * a shortened form of "What's going on?", m'lud ]



.

I bet you don't greet the magistrate like that?

[vinteuil]

I bet you don't greet the magistrate like that?

... no, it's usually "Yo bruv!"

.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

This is exactly how my (erstwhile) drug dealer greeted me.

My current drug dealer usually greets me with "Mornin' Mr Ferney - your usual Preparation-H is it?"

[MrGongGong]

My current drug dealer usually greets me with "Mornin' Mr Ferney - your usual Preparation-H is it?"

Where I live now the universal greeting is
"now then"

[Richard Tarleton]

.

... an example of "dialled down" in today's Times :

The star of this drama about a hit man — George Clooney — is as Hollywood as it gets, but the heart of the film lies elsewhere. In its languid pacing and dialled-down performances, it feels more like a European art-house film than a conventional crime flick


.

On another tack, when TV and film critics feel an actor has put insufficient effort into their performance they often say so-and-so "phoned in" their part....

[Serial_Apologist]

.

... o I think “Whassuuuuup?” works quite well. Except when greeting my drug dealer, where "Wagwan?!"* seems more appropriate.


[ * a shortened form of "What's going on?", m'lud ]



.

When I first moved here I was authoritatively informed "Nar mean, blud?" to be Peckham and surrounding districts shorthand for that old Cockney phrase, "Know what I mean, bruv?"

[Stanfordian]

My current drug dealer usually greets me with "Mornin' Mr Ferney - your usual Preparation-H is it?"

Honestly my Lord, I'm just recreational usual of Preparation-H. You have to believe me!

[ahinton]

Honestly my Lord, I'm just recreational usual of Preparation-H. You have to believe me!

"User", surely? But no matter, since the judge would probably respond "moi aussi"...

[Serial_Apologist]

"User", surely? But no matter, since the judge would probably respond "moi aussi"...

"A recreational usual" sounds rather a good neologism for a regular gym attender with a six-pack, however.