RE: Salutation Question: Hi Fred, or Hi, Fred ?

[Paul Carpenter <pcinnorthhills -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

Up until the last decade or so, "Hi" was arguably an 
elision of "How are you", except for use by special 
populations as an interjection a la "Ahoy" or "Avast". 

But I defy you to tell me I'm wrong that many people 
now use "Hi" in their e-mail saluations as an elision 
for, "I'm starting this missive by saying 'Hi' to". 

I assert to you that that's what *I'm* eliding when 
I condescend to this usage. On what basis can you say 
I'm wrong in my analysis of the words I choose to elide? 

Or I could argue that 'Hi' is the modern 'O'; instead 
of saying, 'O Honored Correspondent, I Salute Thee," 
we can say, "Hi Correspondent" or the like. 


Usage, not rules, determines usage. Being well-versed 
in grammar, I was saddened by the demise of the plural 
'data' and 'media', but I acknowledge that usage has 
changed them to singular, just as it previously did 
with 'candelabra' and 'agenda'. Usage converted 'Ms.' 
into a legitimate title, and it may yet convert 'they' 
to a singular pronoun. We now routinely see sentence 
fragments in edited writing. And so it goes with 'Hi' 
as an unpunctuated salutation in email. Or e-mail. 
Or e-mail messages.  :-)

Paul


--- "Combs, Richard" <richard -dot- combs -at- Polycom -dot- com> wrote:
> It saddens me that no one learns grammar these days:  
>  
>>> "Hi" and "Hello" are each a short message directly 
>>> addressed to someone, which is why they are subject 
>>> to the "direct address" punctuation rule.
>> 
>> They're just an informal word substituted for "dear".
> 
> No, no, no, no! You're suggesting that the _meaning_ 
> of "dear" and "hi" is irrelevant, and that it's 
> pointless to distinguish parts of speech.
> You should be sentenced to a hundred hours 
> diagramming sentences.
> "Dear" is an adjective; "hi" is not -- unless you 
> weren't taught to spell either, and believe it 
> indicates altitude or state of mind. ;-)
> 
> Fred is 100% correct. The only counter-argument that's 
> not specious is, "I consider email to be so informal 
> that writing well isn't worth the bother."
> 
> "It's my opinion, and it's very true."
> Richard
> 
> 
> ------
> Richard G. Combs
> Senior Technical Writer
> Polycom, Inc.
> richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
> 303-223-5111
> ------
> rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
> 303-777-0436
> ------
> 
> 
> 
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