  Sometimes I write about music; sometimes I write about the urlLink philosophical implications of words. (Oh no, I'm turning into urlLink Josh ! ) Notes on Hello 1. Theres a moment in urlLink All the Real Girls , last years remarkable film about young love, where 18-year-old Noel leans into her new older boyfriend, Paul, and says, "Come here, let me tell you a secret. " When he puts his ear up to her mouth, she simply whispers, "Hello hello hello hello. " In this incipient romance, the first real relationship hes had after years of empty sex, and her first relationship ever, those "hellos" act simultaneously as a "sweet nothing" (words words words) and as a wake-up call.
Here she is. No: here she is. 2. Because the word doesnt really mean anything. We can define it in terms of its context of usage -- "used as a greeting," "used especially on the telephone" -- but theres no actual reference, nothing it signifies. Its like defining "table" as "a word used in kitchen situations," with no mention of flat surfaces or legs.
And so, without any anchor to the physical world, "hello" slips into babble, becomes a word to fill space. Asked to test a microphone or otherwise showcase our voice, we resort to hellos: "Hello, hello, is this thing on? " We answer the phone with "hello" because we have to say something. It doesnt really matter what. 3. But when a word that signifies nothing external is used repetitively like that, it does begin to reference something.
Even without meaningful content, whats still there is the voice, the speaker, you. And so "hello" becomes a statement of existence. On the phone, where youre physically absent from your interlocutor, "hello" is really what summons you, calls you into being. Silence. "Hello? " You appear.
When Jim Morrison announces all at once, "Hello, I love you, wont you tell me your name? " the seemingly superfluous word at the beginning is used to set the scene: "Here I am. " Its the equivalent of stage directions: Jim Morrison enters  and thus becomes a character, a part of the world. 4. Of course, most of the time, "hello" is not merely a statement of existence. If the reason we speak is to communicate, it is also an engagement, an attempt at connection.
Lost in the forest, or in the dark, we shout "Hello out there! " to anyone who might be around. In other words: "Im here. Are you? " In both All the Real Girls and the Doors song, in contexts of love, it carries the implication, "Please notice me as Ive noticed you. " And in conversation, when our partner is no longer on the same wavelength, how do we shock them into understanding us again?
"Uh, hel- lo ? " Whereas words like "hi" or "hey" usually function as simple nods of recognition, "hello" has a greater purpose: a declaration, a proposition, a communion. 
