There are countries in the world, where you enter a room in the morning full of dear and beloved friends and colleagues, and you would neither greet them nor make eye contact until they wanted something from you.

I don't know whether this would be my heaven or my hell, but as a brit, useless smalltalk is practically baked into my bones.

iirc the "Hello my baby, Hello my ragtime gal" song was written specifically about the telephone. "Hello" wasn't a common irl greeting at the time

Howard and Emerson in 1899: sup bring that booty girl btb"