As such, I would say that either spelling would be correct

Women entering pubs see friends already ensconced there, stop in their tracks and query : “You all right?

But hey, what the heck! As a Southerner, I say we kept it alive so that the folks in the rest of the country could use it.

Actually they don’t give a damn

AnWulf, the “hey’hay in hey/hay is for horses” is a double entendre referring, simultaneously and equally, to the grass and the previously-spoken greeting.

“Hay is for horses” means that “there exists this plant called hay, that is intended for horses to eat” and nothing more.

“Hey is for horses” means “the utterance you just made, “hey”, is a barbarism that I’m criticising by comparing metaphorically to a plant that horses eat.” The “hey” in “hey is for horses” refers the previously-spoken utterance.

I would definitely not say that. It is unprofessional. For example; emails should only be ended in “Yours Truly” and Hey should be “Hello”. I have been a manager for several years in the Insurance Business and this is what I dictate to my employees. If I see anyone write a letter with anything other then “Yours Truly” I will have them confronted about it.

I am going to change my name to hey for my first name ,hey also for my middle name , last name Fat Albert.People could then call out, Hey,Hey Hey Fat Albert.

I really like “hey” and “hi” and all those American terms discussed here. In South Africa we used to call “Howzitt?” in a cheery tone of voice, asking “How is it?”, making it quite clear that we didn’t want any serious reply, beyond perhaps “Ja” pronounced “Ya” and certainly were not concerned in the least about how the other party fared. I really like that too. But in the depths of rural England I hear an irritating variant: “All right. ” meaning “Are you all right?” asked in a serious, worried and concerned tone, sounding as if the questioner suspects that the addressee has gone completely mad. ” slowly and loudly, the note rising from conversational level to a high interrogative shriek, sounding like serious concern for the well-being of their victims.

In the UK Oi” or Hey” would usually be said in a sharp manner to bring a persons attention to something you were maybe concerned about i.e.” Oi what do you think you are doing”Hey or Hay used as a greeting would not be used in general as it would be seen as an Americanism.”All right John” or “Hi John” etc. would only be used in a very casual friendly way.” All right” is not intended or taken as an enquiry into a persons well being, just like “Howzitt” which sounds absolutely ridiculous to me.But this is why we define American English and UK English, and as long as we can understand each other (all be it with some misunderstandings at times) what does it matter.I would suggest from the pathetic attempt by BRUS to ridicule “All right” he should get it into his head that “Howzitt” is the variant. it’s NOT English.

I’ve seen some here say it was from Old English ‘hello’ or one of the Scandinavian languages ‘hel or Germanic ‘heil’ but the word is originated from the Roman ‘eho’ meaning to call to attention.

The origin is NOT from the word ‘hello’ but from ‘hey!’ a call to attract attention, c.1225, possibly a natural expression to obtain attention. It’s recent usage as a form of greeting is just a coincidence to ‘hello, heil and hel’.