Greetings are like a mixed bag of candies: they’re generally short and sweet, and they come in a number of different varieties. From the casual to the formal, various American salutations are used depending on the social situation. Interestingly enough, a lot of these greetings have long cultural histories tied into them as well. Here is a beginner’s guide to some basic American greetings.

阿甘說，生活呢就像一盒巧克力，看東西說，問候語呢，就像一袋混合口味的糖果：甜味濃郁卻利落，口味繁多。從生活口語到正式問候，社交場合不同，美國人也有不同的寒暄方式。而且，很有意思的是，其中許多問候方式都有著悠久的文化歷史淵源。下面，看東西就為寒暄界的菜鳥們送上福利，奉上一些簡單道地的美式問候：

“HOWDY”——鄉(xiāng)村主流范兒“你好”

(我在澳洲讀書時喜歡用的，別笑我哈)

Commonly relegated to the down-home boys of the Southern states and Western movie stars like John Wayne, “howdy” is an informal greeting often thought to represent a shortened version of the phrase “how do you do?” Generally thought of as a hallmark of the vocabulary of states such as Arizona, Texas and New Mexico, it is believed to have come from Native American greetings to settlers.

這個詞其實是“how do you do(你怎么樣)”的非正式刪減版，雖然被公認(rèn)為是X格較低，但卻十分的接地氣兒，一掛在嘴邊兒就讓人想起美國南部諸州的鄉(xiāng)村大男孩和西部電影里的經(jīng)典牛仔形象，比如約翰?韋恩(曾出演《關(guān)山飛度》)。這個詞是美國亞利桑那州、德克薩斯州和新墨西哥州方言的經(jīng)典詞匯，據(jù)說最早來自印第安人對美洲開拓者的問候。

“WHASSUP”——潮酷隨性范兒“你好”

(到了美國用這個多哈)

“Whassup?” “What’s up?” “Sup?” They all mean the same thing. This is an informal slang greeting you’ll hear in many places across the United States, basically meaning: “How’s is everything going?” The long slurred form of the phrase “whassup” gained popularity in the 1990s from a series of well-loved beer advertisements, where characters tried to outdo each other with progressively longer “whassaaaaps”.

“Whassup?” “What’s up?” “Sup?”這些都是一個意思。這句俚語問候可以說早在美國“爛大街”，它的意思基本上就是：“一切可都還好?”這句長長的俚語的發(fā)音要訣就是一定要說得含糊不清楚，它成名于上世紀(jì)90年代，出現(xiàn)在一個飽受追捧的啤酒廣告系列中而一躍流行;廣告里的老哥兒們一個個接起電話都是“Yo! Whassup!”，一個比一個發(fā)音含糊尾音拖得老長，也是醉了。

“YO”——干凈利落范兒“你好”

(更我的黑人朋友，我常這么打招呼)

Short, sweet and to the point, the one-syllable “yo” might be the simplest American greeting in the English language. The word originally came from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – a largely working-class city in the Northeast – but a series of iconic uses popularized the word in the American vocabulary. Most famously, Rocky Balboa, the main character in the titular “Rocky” films, used the word as a sign of his Philadelphia roots. The word also gained wide usage in the hip-hop and rap communities in the 1990s, filtering into the mainstream conversation through the popularity of that lifestyle and music.

擲地有聲，熱情友好，開門見山，它只有一個音節(jié)，是英語語言中最簡單的美式問候——唷!(還是英語看著更舒服是不是?……)“唷”最初來自賓州費城，美帝東北部一個以工人階級為主的城市，但是之后一些娛樂界標(biāo)志性的用法才真正地讓它走入群眾心中。其中最為有名的用法來自洛奇系列電影中的主角洛奇拳王，他用這個詞來代表自己的費城背景。這個詞同時也在上世紀(jì)90年代的嘻哈說唱圈兒里被廣泛使用，之后隨著嘻哈生活方式和音樂的流行而逐漸滲透進(jìn)入主流語言。

“ALOHA”——陽光熱情范兒“你好”

(我在夏威夷玩時，只用這個哈)

You might need to head to a tropical paradise to hear this island greeting. “Aloha” has been used in the island state of Hawaii since the mid-19th century to mean not only a greeting, but also a farewell. In the decades since then, Hawaii has become quite the tourist destination – with countless visitors to the “Aloha State” getting a taste of the island lifestyle and bringing back a phrase or two home with them.

要聽到底的“Aloha”,恐怕你得赴夏威夷州微服一趟。它從19世紀(jì)中期就在夏威夷開始使用，而且它不僅是問候語，也是告別語。自那之后的幾十年中，夏威夷已經(jīng)成為一個旅游熱門去處——數(shù)不清的友人涌向這里，之為一品海島生活風(fēng)情，同時帶一兩句方言滿載而歸。

“SHALOM”——高端深刻范兒“你好”

“Shalom” is a greeting normally used in the American Jewish community. It comes from the Hebrew word for peace, completeness, prosperity, and welfare – and just like “Aloha”, it can mean both hello and goodbye. It is frequently used as a more general blessing, and is often put in combination with other Hebrew words in both colloquial and religious contexts.

“Shalom”是在美國的猶太人社群中常常使用的問候語。它來自希伯來語，代表和平、整全、繁榮和幸福。就像“Aloha”一樣，它既是問候語又是告別語;更多的時候它是作為通用的祝福語，經(jīng)常和其他的希伯來語詞匯合起來使用，在白話和宗教語境中都頻繁出現(xiàn)。