5

When people greet us by 'howdy howdy', what is the best reply to it? Is it also used in British English?

Nathan Tuggy
  • 9,513
  • 20
  • 40
  • 56
rusticmystic
  • 259
  • 1
  • 2
  • 8
  • 5
    Hi, Des! Good to see you! Welcome! Been a while! Wazzup! Hihiyu! O joy O rapture unforeseen! – StoneyB on hiatus Apr 15 '13 at 11:20
  • Possible duplicate of http://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/4526/do-you-really-answer-how-do-you-do-with-how-do-you-do/4533#4533 – Matt Apr 15 '13 at 11:31
  • 2
    All of @Stoney's answers are good (well, maybe the last one is questionable), but, only one or two at a time, not all at once. – J.R. Apr 15 '13 at 12:23
  • @J.R. Well of course not all at once--that would be unintelligible--but sequentially? Depends on how excited you are. – StoneyB on hiatus Apr 15 '13 at 12:25
  • What about a time you are not excited after hearing this kinds of greetings? – Persian Cat Apr 15 '13 at 12:30
  • @Matt I notice this 'howdy howdy' is an informal greeting, while for 'how do you do' as I learn (I am a non native speaker) is a formal greeting when you firstly meet with someone. – rusticmystic Apr 15 '13 at 12:42
  • @StoneyB Perhaps 'Dang' also could be included? It is kind of a region characteristic in US? – rusticmystic Apr 15 '13 at 12:47
  • 2
    @Des: "howdy" is a contraction of "howdy do", which is itself a (primarily south US) contraction of "how do you do". The point is that "howdy" is a synonym for "hello", so any standard response to "hello" (including howdy, hello, hi, nice to meet you, what's up?, how are you doing?, how are you? etc) are all valid responses. "Howdy howdy" is a jovialisation of "howdy" - so any jovial standard response to "hello" is valid, hence StoneyB's slightly tongue-in-cheek response. – Matt Apr 15 '13 at 12:48
  • Dang, which is a minced version of damn, is not ordinarily employed as a greeting; but of course it may be incorporated in any speech act as an intensive or an expression of ire, dismay, wonder or exuberance. – StoneyB on hiatus Apr 15 '13 at 13:00
  • 2
    @PersianCat .. That of course is the important question. Holding your hand out limply and responding, with a total absence of affect, "How do you do. I am Dr. Cat" will often quench your interlocutor's unseemly familiarity. See Potter, Gamesmanship (1947) and subsequent works. – StoneyB on hiatus Apr 15 '13 at 13:09
  • @StoneyB "unseemly familiarity" - You're obviously not American. We call that greeting a stranger in a friendly manner. We may be wary if the stranger greeting us so may want something from us, but we are not offended by it. Personal questions beyond standard introductions are where we draw that line of being overly familiar with a stranger. – Denise Skidmore Apr 15 '13 at 13:53
  • @Matt you should post your second comment as an answer. But I don't think this is a duplicate, as "howdy howdy" was not specifically addressed in the other question, and your points about that being more jovial than other greetings was not addressed in the answers there. – Denise Skidmore Apr 15 '13 at 13:55
  • @DeniseSkidmore: I've posted it as an answer. – Matt Apr 15 '13 at 14:03
  • 1
    @DeniseSkidmore I'm American, of Deep Southern extraction, and quite comfortable with that sort of forthcomingness; but Persian Cat, to whose question I was responding, appears to belong to a less extroverted community. – StoneyB on hiatus Apr 15 '13 at 15:16
  • @StoneyB Ah... Sorry for misunderstanding. I'd have gone for something more moderate like "hello". Going from extreme informality to extreme formality is as off-putting to the informal person as the initial greeting was to the formal person. – Denise Skidmore Apr 15 '13 at 15:46
  • @DeniseSkidmore Precisely. – StoneyB on hiatus Apr 15 '13 at 15:48

2 Answers2

7

Howdy is a contraction of "howdy do", which is itself a (primarily south US) contraction of "how do you do", which is a synonym for hello.

For this reason, any standard response to "hello" is a valid response to "howdy":

hello

howdy

hi

how are you?

What's up?

how you doin'? (esp. NY)

"Howdy howdy" is a jovial form of "howdy", and hence (as StoneyB alluded in a slightly tongue-in-cheek way above), it would be acceptable to respond in a similarly jovial manner, such as

Hey!

Howdy howdy!

Hihi!

How've ya been?

Whazzup!

Yo! How ya' doin!

Community
  • 1
Matt
  • 11,820
  • 1
  • 31
  • 54
1

In Australia, we use it as slang; it has become popular to reply "let's get rowdy" when another says "howdy howdy". This is a nod to party culture in Australia, and it's a bit more fun than the American versions.

Glorfindel
  • 14,824
  • 15
  • 69
  • 76
Emily
  • 11
  • 1