Posted by Wayne Hammond on May 19, 1999 at 15:23:53 from stetson-whammond-w95.williams.edu:
In Reply to: Howdy posted by Edwin M. Kiser on May 19, 1999 at 03:14:05:
"Howdy" is an abbreviation of "how d'ye", "how do ye", "how do you do", etc. The Oxford English Dictionary traces "howdyes" (plural noun) to the 16th century. "Howdy" as a greeting seems to have had some currency in English literature and speech in the late 19th century. Its inclusion in Ransome suggests that he heard it used in this century as well.
I can't say that I've ever heard it used in England when I've visited, but English differs from place to place in Britain just as it does in the U.S. 'Howdy' isn't that common here in New England, but it is among my relatives in southern Ohio -- and well known, at least, to even a Northerner like me who grew up with Howdy Doody and Minnie Pearl.
Wayne Hammond
(An Ohioan living in Massachusetts, who knows someone from Massachusetts living in Wisconsin who nevertheless says "y'all")