1y ago

Nobody says it anymore

I've heard it explained that "hey" used to be more of an urgent way to get someone's attention, rather than a casual "hello" like it is now, so it sounded rude to some older folks.

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Teachers in 2023: “NOOO you can’t end your sentences with ‘fr fr nocap skibidi’ those aren’t even real words!”
2033:
- 2033: "Why would you say any of that corny old shit? You sloopy old frond!"
  
  Seriously. The "Fr fr no cap" is closer to our generations "Swag yolo". Or the past generations "Tubular"
  
  2035: We flippin' grunts out here or what?
  
  Do we have a RemindMe bot for Lemmy yet? I want to re-read this prophecy in 10 years
- Is it a reference to this https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skibidi_Toilet? Is it used as punctuation like "lol"?

When I was a waiter, there was no shortage of boomers getting genuinely upset with me saying "No problem" as a reply to "thanks".
- I had no idea that it's considered improper. Online gaming is like
  thx
  np
  
  Thx must have been too many letters because all I see now is "ty"
  
  It's a stretch for kids to write anything completely online. We call it Kid Pidgin.
  
  Nobody expects online gaming to be a bastion of proper grammar.
  People type in abbreviations when gaming mainly due to lack of time though... Much better to focus on the game than typing more than necessary to convey a simple message in those cases.
  
  I only ever did that when typing via controller. If I had a keyboard I used full sentences but quickly. Sometimes the speed meant lack of proofreading though and weird things have been said.
- As an Aussie I don't understand how people get confused by 'no worries' .
  
  Inmates lost all manners smh
  
  I'm an American and I say that all the time. I'm not sure how I picked it up.
- Ugggggh I went through this with my (boomer) boss for years until she finally accepted it lmao. Then it was, "WORRIES, CaptFeather! WORRIES!" as a joke every time I said it lol
- I prefer to say no problem over you're welcome cuz it always (to me) sounds sarcastic/disingenuous when I say you're welcome
  
  "No problem" also carries the implication that the favor was taken and done without ill will, where "you're welcome" carries one of superiority
  
  It's like this:
  You have a boss. A wrinkled plus-sized brown business jacket of a man whose idea of "cutting costs" is turning the air conditioner off. If he caught on fire, you wouldn't piss on him to put him out. How do you address him? "Good morning Mr. Perkins, how are you doing today?"
  You've got a war buddy. You met at boot camp, you served in the same company, he splinted your leg in the field, you're his kids' godfather. You'd kill and die for this man. How do you address him? "Ah god not this fucking asshole again."
  Official formal polite language like "Thank you" and "You're welcome" is the pair of nitrile gloves I put on to handle the really noxious shit that comes my way. "w'thanks man" and "no problem" means I'm willing to handle you with my bare skin.
- Lol did they specifically want "you're welcome?"
  
  Absolutely. I could understand it if it was a formal dining place I suppose. But it was a fucking Applebee's in a 20k population town with one other restaurant lmao
- Imagine repying "danke", which is thanks in German

My grandfather used to say that, but it was more of in a dad joke way rather than a 'you shouldn't say that' way.
- I say it to my kids all the time.

I think someone took a dad joke too seriously.

I remember my mom getting uptight over the word "sucks", as in "that sucks" or "it really sucked". Literally everyone was saying it, there was no way I could help it lol
- Core memory unlocked.
  Mom used to get angry about me saying something sucks. She explained why it made her angry, and how it referenced a terrible and no-good sex act. I was about 16 at the time, and had already experienced this horrible, no good thing that nobody should do and just felt sorry for dad.
- Tell her to sit on it. And rotate.
  
  Sit and swivel was phase where I grew up. Nobody says it anymore that I know of.
  
  You sit and spin man!
- Sucks for her
  
  No, she does it
- Go suck an egg, man
  
  A mayon-egg?
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWNh5EjHsYA
- Vacuum. It sucks too.

"Hay is for horses" is such a dope saying. I loved it, horses are dope.
- Exactly. I thought it was just a silly joke to open up conversation.
  In Germany we have something similar. Our word for Hey, "Hai" actually has two meanings. Obviously it means "Hey" but also "Shark"
  So it was common to respond with either "Where" or the more famous "Fish"
  If you went for Fish it turned into a silly game of trying to compound the word as much as possible in responses to each other. Usually going like "Hey" "Fish" "Fin" "Soup". Sharkfish fin soup
- Horses agree:
  (tap to view animation)

I fought in the hey/hay wars in my early childhood. Weost many good soldiers, but their sacrifice was not in vain.

My old man used to say (in a sing-song voice):
Hay is for horses
Sometimes cows
Chickens would eat it
But they don't know how
- im old but you are most definitely older than i

Not once did someone say that to me in a corrective or condescending way. It was always a playful joke.
In elementary school we used to say "hay is for horses, and cows like you!".
- We had "Hay is for horses, sometimes for cows, pigs don't eat it 'cause they don't know hows"
- It was always "and cows say moo" for me.

The calling parents "dude" wars are still raging, though.
- I call my mom dude all the time.
- My daughter is not allowed to call me 'dude' or 'bro.' I don't care if that's old fashioned or closed minded of me. I like being called Dad or Daddy, and shouldn't it be my choice what I'm called?
  
  maybe depends on how old the daughter is?
  if she's 6 then yes. if she's 20? umm get over yourself.

I'm glad that the attitude that if you don't speak "correctly," then you are not worth engaging with is dying out.
Well, on the grammar front, anyway.
- I'm glad the "not worth engaging with" attitude is dying out, but I do still think it's important to push for people to communicate accurately and effectively, which includes understanding and following grammatical rules when needed.
  Language and vocabulary are essential to how we think and collectively problem-solve.
  
  The point of language is to communicate information.
  If the information was successfully relayed, the language exchange was successful.
  If the person knows you MEAN "hello, I would like two of these items here, thank you good sir. hands cash and cashier says thank you You're welcome. Have a pleasant day, sir" when you SAY "Sup, two please. Thanks man. No problem have a good one." then you have successfully languaged.
  So when my wife with a plethora of issues involving word recall says some insane thing because she can't remember the right words, as long as I understand what she means, her language did it's job.
  
  There's got to be movement on both sides to a common understanding. If one side won't budge, then fuck 'em.
- People using they/them pronouns:
- It should of died out long ago and on the side of academic linguistics did, but on the internet sadly not so much
  
  should of
  Why do you want to hurt us so?

Hey
- Hay is for horses.

Remember Yo?

This actually happened to me at a supermarket in Chilliwack. The description is spot on. Grumpy old dude, 19 year old me.

Hey ho.

The proper response to someone saying hay, is straw.
- African or European?

Hey! Listen!

Hej hej
- Sokoły
- Og Høhø...

I've heard it explained that "hey" used to be more of an urgent way to get someone's attention
Used to?! O_O
- Still does, but depends on the emphasis
  "Hey aulin!" = Hello
  "Hey!/Hey, aulin!" = Getting your attention

What the hay?
Frankly, I knew one person who replied "hey is how you call a horse".

A few years ago a very boomer gen-xer tried this on me and got very enraged when I would say "hey" instead of "hello {his name}". At one point even threatened me.
- “Greetings, sir!”
  
  What, no salutations? So rude!
- I like to mix it up with a 'howdy' too. Kind of a throwback 'hey'.

A debt owed to Felicity.

Isn’t that just Swedish for “hello”, brought here by Swedish immigrants?
- No, it's been in English since Old English, but is cognate with Swedish hej.
- Hej is definitely Swedish for hello. Not sure about the etymology of hey in America but it certainly makes sense.

Y'all was different back then too. Now it's the most neutral greeting and that's really odd for my 90s brain.
- I will die on the hill that "y'all" is a more concise way to convey the same information than any of the alternatives.
  
  Many languages have a plural second person pronoun, English can too y'all. It's a legitimately useful linguistic feature.
  
  I haven't gotten a chance to use it yet, but one day the construction "all y'all'd've" will be relevant in my life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBohdltpVUY

"Hej," pronounced "hey" is Swedish for "hello." Also "Hej hej" these days if you want to be more casual. It seemed weird to me at first, like "Hej mormor," for "Hello, grandmother," seemed informal, but if I said, "God afton," (good afternoon) my cousins said I sounded like a government issued language tape.

This reminds me of that old joke "what do gay horses eat? Hay hay haaaayyyyyy" that was told to us by a teacher in I dunno, middle school probably. Gotta love the 90s

It was "yo" for me. Any time I used it some old shit would complain. My mom called it n-word speak. Me and my mom don't talk.
I use it daily, mostly out of spite.
- She wasn't ok with yo but the n word was ok? Hahaha wtf old people be crazy
  
  My mom was about 35 when she said that. Went to services every weekend.

They're gone now but moved on to inside our government
- We all should have anticipated that after the "don't say gay" law, there will be a "don't say hey" law

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