• CitizenKong@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    While it wasn’t a general greeting, “halloo” was already used as a verb meaning “to call for a hunting” in the 14th century.

    • pyre@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      also as an exclamation of surprise, like “halloo, what’s this?”

      “hello” is still occasionally used in this sense today.

        • pyre@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          idk if you’re joking but not German; it was indeed halloo or holloo in English before hello became standard

          • tetris11@lemmy.ml
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            8 months ago

            “halloo, what’s this?”

            “haaaallooooo” is used a lot by Germans as a slow exclamation to mean “hey idiot, what are you doing?”

            • 🔍🦘🛎@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              It’s used this way in American English sometimes, as in a teen issuing a counterpoint “HellOOOOoooo”