Texas town says goodbye to 'hello'

KINGSVILLE, Texas (AP) -- In this friendly little ranching town, "hello" is wearing out its welcome. And Leonso Canales Jr. is happy as heck.

At his urging, the Kleberg County commissioners on Monday unanimously designated "heaven-o" as the county's official greeting. The reason: "hello" contains the word "hell."

"When you go to school and church, they tell you 'hell' is negative and 'heaven' is positive,'" said the 56-year-old Canales, who owns the Kingsville Flea Market. "I think it's time that we set a new precedent, to tell our kids that we are positive adults."

The new salutation, according to the county resolution, is a "symbol of peace, friendship and welcome" in this "age of anxiety."

they tell you 'hell' is negative

Not compared to, say, "fuck-this-o".

That's not very symbolic of peace, friendship and welcome of you.

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David Sabrio, a professor of English at Texas A&M University-Kingsville, noted that the Oxford English Dictionary says "hello" stems from an old German greeting for hailing a boat.

"Linguistically and historically, the word 'hello' has no connection at all with what we associate with the underworld," he said. "People may make that connection in their own mind. I certainly don't."

I bet "hello" was an old German greeting for hailing a boat... from hell!

That's some kind of world class stupid, Mr. Canales.

When y'all were kids, was 'hell' a bad word? It was in our Christian grade-school.

It's Texas. Shouldn't they all be saying "Howdy" anyway?

When y'all were kids, was 'hell' a bad word? It was in our Christian grade-school.

Yeah, but it came off the "bad word" list earlier than the other ones. And hence the cocksuckin' slippery slope I've been on ever since.

cocksuckin' slippery slope

I read this as 'cocksuckin' slurpy slope.'

It's Texas. Shouldn't they all be saying "Howdy" anyway?

Or "Hey". Maybe we should just institute a national "Yo" greeting and be done with it.