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，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”——鄉村主流范兒“你好”

(澳洲喜歡用的)

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村大男孩和西部電影里的經典牛仔形象，比如約翰?韋恩(曾出演《關山飛度》)。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典詞匯，據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音要訣就是一定要說得含糊不清楚，它成名于上世紀90年代，出現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!”，一個比一個發音含糊尾音拖得老長，也是醉了。

“YO”——干凈利落范兒“你好”

(黑人朋友這么打招呼)

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，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入主流語言。

“ALOHA”——陽光熱情范兒“你好”

(夏威夷玩時用這個)

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，夏威夷已經成為一個旅游熱門去處——數不清的友人涌向這里，之為一品海島生活風情，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。