Its hey!, 'yo' and whatz up not 'Hello'

London, Jun 13: ''Hey gal! What's Up Gal?''...''Yo dude! I am kewl!'' Many of us indulge in such a conversation while answering a phone call without realising how 'old good hello' is diminishing from our lives.

According to a recent survey by Stewart Fox-Mills of the Post Office, hello is being replaced by more casual greetings such as 'hi', 'yo' or even 'what's up?' That is if they answer at all. Many are screening their calls with the answerphone or using caller display to show who is ringing and then decide whether or not to take the call or call back. It also allows them to answer the phone with the name of the caller, rather than use 'hello'. The survey marks 130 years since the Telephone Company was registered in 1878, formed to exploit Alexander Graham Bell's invention of the phone and making calls more widely available.

According to the survey, nearly 28 per cent of the phone answering habits of Britons have become less formal over the past decade, with only one in 20 -- 5 per cent -- adopting a more formal answering style.

Four in ten of those who answer less formally than ten years ago said this was down to the increase in the ways they can communicate through text messages, mobile phones and emails.

UNI