Sometimes, for no apparent reason, a word or phrase bubbles
up from deep within the realm of memory. As I studied the
excellent 2008 USCIS Ombudsman's Report to
Congress, out from my cerebral hard drive popped
"Hello Out There!" -- the title and opening
and ending lines of William Saroyan's outstanding 1942
one-act play. The play is about angst, the existential cry of
the human spirit beset by a world of injustice, but also about
hopeful beginnings. (In high school I played the smallest of
bit parts -- the jailer -- a ten-second walk-on with no
lines.)
As I wondered why this phrase suddenly popped in my mind,
into my consciousness came another meaning of
"hello," pronounced with an adolescent sing-song
intonation that stresses the last two syllables, as in
"HellOOo." This slang meaning of
"hello," as confirmed in www.SlangSite.com, expresses astonished
incredulity at another person's naivete.
