# Greetings, fellow Earthlings!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greetings-fellow-earthlings/139942>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [December 2, 2002, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greetings-fellow-earthlings/139942 "2002-12-02T11:52:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Loneraven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c0e974/32.png) [@Loneraven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loneraven)\
**Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greetings-fellow-earthlings/139942/1 "2002-12-02T11:52:34Z")

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One unexpected effect the internet seems to have had is forcing us mere mortals to be ever more creative when greeting people. In RL, a greeting is a word you say that hangs in the air for a second before you get to the main body of the conversation.  
But online seems to a different story, as a greeting lingers.

So, no longer can we use such dull ones as **hi** , **hiya** , and **hey.**  
There’s my staple, the new twist on two old favourites - **heya** - but after that things start getting difficult.

There’s **hello** when you want to be formal, and **salutations** when you want to be sarcastic…

There’s always the other langauge route - **bonjour** , **buongiorno** , and **aloha!**

Which leads me to my favourite greeting, **heyloha…** - unusual and original. I like to flatter myself.

Huh. It’s midday. I should go get dressed.

~Raven

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**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greetings-fellow-earthlings/139942/2 "2002-12-02T12:26:52Z")

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I often sign off chat with **Nighty Bye** , which is intended to be just the other side of twee.

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**Author:** ![garius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e19b73/32.png) [@garius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garius)\
**Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greetings-fellow-earthlings/139942/3 "2002-12-02T13:07:27Z")

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\<b\>Yo\</b\>

Short and to the point.

or possibly

\<b\>Wotcha\</b\>

If I feel like emphasising my Englishness.

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**Author:** ![garius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e19b73/32.png) [@garius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garius)\
**Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greetings-fellow-earthlings/139942/4 "2002-12-02T13:08:39Z")

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must…stop…writing…html… 🙂

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**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\
**Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greetings-fellow-earthlings/139942/5 "2002-12-02T15:40:46Z")

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Waddya mean, “fellow Earthlings”?

\<red 'lectroid\>It’s not my damn planet, monkey-boy\</red 'lectroid\>