How! Old China Hand back with another throught-provoking if not terribly enlightening view of the origin of the “Indian” greeting, “How!” In Chinese, words like “Hao, ho, etc.” commonly mean “good, well”, and Chinese people commonly greet one another by asking if you are well, and you respond, “Well”. This goes on day and night until you can easily see why all the Chinese people might jump up and down at the same time.
This “Hao” expression bolsters the theory that peoples came across the land mass that connected east and west, lo! these many many moons ago, and of course brought with them their trusty word, “Hao”. They either peopled these lands or mingled with the indigenous peoples who up until then had no way of greeting one another save through the primitive application of heavy blows to the head.
It is also pretty clear that the “invaders” moved southward over the years as well, and we fully expect some intrepid acheologist one day soon to uncover a pair of golden Inca chopsticks at the bottom of some heretofore hidden tomb.
(2004 UPDATE) Archeologists near a Mayan temple in Yucatan recently uncovered what are believed to be badly decomposed discarded take-out boxes).
What am I saying? I’ve got to get a life!
Link to Column: Did Indians really say “how” as a greeting?
I ain’t seeing it.
No linguistic drift over 20,000 years? Pffft.