Hello v Hi

[allen ives]

Anyone else noticed the correlation on University Challenge between teams introducing themselves by 'Hello' rather than 'Hi' and their subsequent success in the programme? Is it explained by engaging brain before mouth?

[homer]

You cannot be serious - can you? So how many episodes have you studied and what were the (approximate) results. This sounds like a voice bemoaning the lack of traditional values. Personally I think that one side always gets easier questions than the other -but I suppose I think they are easy because I can answer them.

[shedman]

I've got to agree with homer. There are still those who hanker for formality because it reminds them of a golden era that never really existed, when people who minded their Ps and Qs, all knew their 12 times table and spoke fluent Latin, and this sounds like a classic case. The lines are much more blurred these days, thankfully. For instance, would you be happier buying a computer from a man in an open-necked shirt and a beard or a spotty youth in a superstore wearing a loud Bart Simpson tie?