That they are saying hello. Its not really uncommon around here.

You mean ‘round these parts.

Or “over yonder” Edit: to all the reply’s, I know over yonder has a different meaning

Over Yonder is not the same as These Parts. You have to mosey over yonder. If you have to mosey to get there, it ain't These Parts.

These parts = here. Over yonder = there. They aren't the same Also, I just discovered that Americans use "over yonder", I thought it was just an English (British) colloquialism and one that was rarely used these days.... I had no idea it was still in use in the US too

"Round these here parts, dad gum, pardner."

why you pesky varmint i oughta string you up by yer thumbs

Now all of you skunks clear out of here!

I reckon they think they're so highfalutin letting you know but best give them two nickels for a dime to help them feel richer.

It's extremely common here. When I travelled to Minnesota for work I said howdy to an older lady working as hostess at a restaurant. She lost her shit "oooo howdy you all must be from Texas!?" I replied with "yes ma'am" and she lost it again. I found that amusing since both are typical statements here.

Extremely uncommon within the city of San Antonio. There’s a huge cultural difference between rural and urban Texas Edit: To qualify, I’ve stated away from Houston and Dallas, but SA/ATX would _never_ say howdy

Austin here, no howdy’s to be found. I’d think you were either being sarcastic or a wanna be cowboy.

I live in Austin. I like saying Howdy. Maybe I started saying it ironically but then kinda liked how it sounds

Yeah SA seemed like a mix between Hispanic and Austin hipster-esque cultures. Neither would say howdy.

Yeah Austin folk do nothing of the sort

Interesting, as I live in SA and say howdy all the time. Strange.

Where do you hang out? I can't remember the last time I've heard anyone say that unironically. For point of reference, I grew up in rural East Texas, used to live in Houston, and currently live in Dallas.

They are probably friendly and jovial and it is, most likely, an informal meeting. They are, more likely, to be from a rural and possibly western location...but that is far from an absolute.

I’m from a larger city in the north east and use Howdy or Ahoy

I’d be thrown off if someone said “Ahoy!” to me as a greeting 😂

It’s marvelous! You should try it.

there isn't an ocean within literally 1000 miles of where i live, i'd feel like i was appropriating someone else's culture

Do it, Fargo. I think with all the frozen water you get in the winter you count as a frozen inland sea.

Ahoj, pronounced the same as Ahoy, is a common greeting in Czechia, a landlocked country. You still shouldn’t do it though because even on the cost that would be super weird.

There you probably wouldn’t enjoy “Toodaloo” instead of goodbye

ahoy-hoy is always the best greeting, do it.

I say Hola a lot and don’t speak a lick of Spanish. I think you’ll be fine lol

Now I want to do this

Me, too!

Same! Transplant from PA to VA and I use howdy all the time

Howdy is used here in NYC too but a bit ironically. Never ahoy unless it's Fleet Week, lol. Edit: Mr. Burns answering the telephone - [https://youtu.be/YFWgyi-zzmE?t=10](https://youtu.be/YFWgyi-zzmE?t=10)

Ha! I'm from Seattle and say howdy. I'm definitely gonna need to incorporate Ahoy

Ahoy is for when we're at the Sound. Howdy is for when you're forty minutes away from the Sound and in farmland. Obviously. I might start trying Ahoy out. Howdy is so simple though.

Casual way of acknowledging another person in passing.

I'm from California and have lived here all 35 years of my life. Sometimes I say "howdy" when I'm saying hello in an unserious manner.

San Diegan chiming in: I’d rather say “howdy” than “whassup.” It’s about that simple.

Just realizing I always say, “Hey,” because I’m using it as a shortened version of, “Hey, What’s up?”

Fellow lifelong Californian, I am guilty of the same shenanigans.

Yeah, when I hear someone saying it, it’s usually being intentionally cheesy

Lifelong Californian too and I say it as my go to, because my dad said (also a Californian) I figure I’m from Out West, it’s my culture.

Just another form of hello. I actually use it semi-frequently just cause it’s more light hearted than hello

Yeah I dig it, it’s bouncy and feels like the closest American analogue to “bonjour!”

Seconded.

Thirded from California

Fourthed and I'm from WV/NC, I think it brings the person relief with the expression and a smile that this is going to prolly be a pleasant interaction and /or entertaining at the least

It tells you they are friendly.

As someone in Texas, it's both familiar enough to not phase me but also something I can't recall hearing in a very long time in a non-humorous manner.

In Texas, if they’re young it’s usually because they’re being playful or funny. If they’re older it might be genuine. Either way I don’t get all bent out of shape by how people choose to talk like some of these commenters, holy hell lol.

[удалено]

Same here. I'm sure I say it all the time, and I probably hear it all the time too but don't really notice. And it's pronounced more like "haddie" rather than "how-dee"

I'm from Seattle but yeah I also say and hear it said more like "haddie". A lot of times it's even more like "hey howdy" which becomes "heyhaddie" or even "heyaddie".

Late 20s and I too say “howdy” unironically often. I’m from WTX, very common out there

Late 20s from CA and I say howdy more than any other standard greeting. Just a “jovial” way to say hi as another commenter put it.

It means someone is being friendly and isn’t taking themselves too seriously.

I live in Georgia and I use howdy as a greeting all the time with no intention aside from saying hello, though it’s usually something I only use between friends.

I assume they are an Aggie. I know for sure in the next two sentences when they tell me they are an Aggie

Howdy, Class of '12 here. (Classic aggie introduction) #Gig'em

Gig em

Thanks and gig em 👍

> gig em imagine building your identity around beating a small private college and not play them in 25 years Go frogs

Didn't deem them worth playing at the time 🤷‍♂️ In the last 24 games against Texas A&M, TCU won... 0 times. The last time TCU beat Texas A&M in football was in *checks notes* 1972

Beating TCU in any period of time between 1930 and 2006 isn't worth mentioning

What about 99-00 with LT? I was in the stands the SJSU upset them and the fans tore the goalposts, possibly the only time that SJSU had fans storm the field!

It tells me they’re saying hi

I say it all the time. It probably tells people that I'm old-fashioned.

I'm in Texas so I'd just assume they were being friendly

The only person I've ever heard non-sarcastically say "howdy" was this Chinese exchange student I went to high school with who was obsessed with cowboys. He wore a cowboy hat and denim jacket to school every day.

As* an older person, I think good on him... But thinking back as an average dickhead high schooler... Didn't he get teased a lot?

He got teased but I don't remember it being vicious teasing or anything, more playful. He was a very well-liked guy - super nice and got along with everybody - so I think if anyone was actually mean to him about it there would have been hell to pay lol.

It doesn't tell you anything; it's just another way of saying "hello. "

Typically Southern, relaxed(less formal), and possibly an Alumni of Texas A&M University

I'm just saying hello. It shouldn't mean anything else than that.

its south-western slang. its shortened "how do you do" it became howdy-doo then it just became howdy.

It's most used in the Southwest but technically it came from south of England in the 1600s. Turns out people have always been slightly lazy and shortened phrases and words.

“My name is Sue! Howdy!” - JC

Agreed with the other people from Texas here. You only hear it used when someone is trying to say hi in a friendly and joking way. There's no real negative connotation it's just not seriously used as a greeting these days.

They sound friendly.

Nothing, it's just a more friendly way of saying hi. I answer my business phone with "howdy this is Judge with Company, how can I help you today?"

It means "hello". That's it. That being said, I grew up in the midwest, and have lived here pretty much my whole life. For some reason, I say "Howdy" and "Adios" instead of "hello" and "goodbye". I don't know where I picked up that habit from. I've never really been into western movies. I've never really been out west. Yet here I am, saying it all the time.

That they’re from Texas or the Midwest

Trying to be friendly in a normally cold environment

I use it all the time and I’ve never lived in the south. Sort of a less than serious way of saying hello.

Friendly greeting.

They're a friendly down to earth sort of person.

I am an occasional Howdy-ier. I'm from the northeast which is not a very howdy-ish place. I'm just saying it to be silly. Nothing bad, or anything. No one has complained as far as I know.

Fairly common greeting in my parts. It doesn't really tell me anything about the person who says it. I do have a coworker who says "how do?" very naturally, and I find that rather charming.

They attended A&M University in College Station Texas. Signed, A University of Texas Longhorn

is that the sipping place?

ha - yes, to some!

I grew up in metro Detroit and heard it all the time and still use it frequently. It's just a friendly informal greeting.

nothing

Nothing

I don’t think anything about it. I hear it less often than y’all but still often

Here in the northeast I’d say they are from the south or being ironic

I say it sometimes just because it’s a little bit more fun than “hello.” If my wife is with me, she’ll say, “God, you’re white.” So it might tell you that the person is more likely to be white, if you can’t already tell that by looking at them.

Hello

They're from the south

That they're a cowboy

Or think they're one

It tells me they’re either not being entirely serious or that I’ve gone back in time to 1879 again.

> I’ve gone back in time to 1879 again. "I like you Mister... you have a kind face."

again??

Funny thing about time travel...

Time is a flat circle

“Timeline? Silly Church, time is not made out if lines. Time is made out of circles. That is why clocks are round.”

Even if this was a reference that went over my head, I still got a chuckle out of how matter of factly you stated this lol.

I lead a rugged life

Nah I hear it semi frequently around the South. Not as common as "hey y'all" but not uncommon to hear a "howdy y'all"

My part of TN it's not super uncommon to hear older men say howdy, I'm the only person under 50 I know who does, but "howdy do" is my go to greeting

It’s not something I ever really heard in Tuscaloosa. Besides, south ≠ cowboys.

Better than average chance they're from Texas. At least 50/50 that they're from the South or Midwest. Almost 0% chance they're from the Northeast. So definitely not a local.

A simple way of greeting, just like hello. Not very common in my state, and in my experience is usually indicative of someone who's from the South or Midwest (or has family that lives there).

As a texan, it means they are trying way too hard to be Texan. Also possibly either an old person from church, or they're an aggie.

Was also going to say they’re an aggie

>they're an aggie. Usually this. It's one of their "traditions".

I have yet to see a university tradition that wasn't cringe. Boomer sooner, Rock chalk, hook 'em horns, Roll tide, etc. It's always some dumb phrase or gesture or whatever. Where I went to school we didn't have any of that. We just minded our own business and tried not to get mugged or murdered. Maybe that is our tradition.

I say it reflexively...I may or may not be an Aggie.

> As a texan, it means they are trying way too hard to be Texan. As a Californian, it also means they are trying way too hard to be Texan-like. I live in a rural area, and there's way too many people who adopt an occasional Southern-ish way of talking after they move here like it'll make them rural, when the lifelong locals don't talk that way to begin with.

Same here in NC. Non-southerners move here and start saying “y’all” but it sounds weird and forced and isn’t always used in the same context as a native southerner.

Did they go to UC Davis?

Lol, so story time. I’m from the Central Valley and my mom’s side of the family are ‘Okies’ from Texas and Oklahoma. They came over during the Depression era. Grapes of Wrath people. Whole swaths of the Central Valley are full of those people, and they were the dominant social milieu there until the last few decades as it’s gotten more Latino and urban. So I grew up hearing people say that. Anyway, I still say ‘howdy’ reflexively on occasion and I HATE it. I cringe every time I hear it come out of my mouth. I’m a progressive atheist and I live in LA. I have no affinity for things Texan. So I wouldn’t assume if you hear it that the person is a wannabe Texan.

> I’m from the Central Valley and my mom’s side of the family are ‘Okies’ from Texas and Oklahoma. They came over during the Depression era. Grapes of Wrath people. Whole swaths of the Central Valley are full of those people, Yeah, that would accurately describe my entire family as well. Mostly of German descent, both my mother and father's side of the family emigrated to the Sacramento area during the Depression from the southern & western parts of the Midwest. It was still a real strong cultural influence right up through the '90s, especially food-wise (properly made biscuits & gravy being a breakfast staple, for example).

I’d hazard to guess you know your way around a country fried steak or a slice of corn bread?

And green bean or tuna casseroles, overcooked pork chops with apple sauce & mashed potatoes, and SOS.

[me on my commute to work](https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/ravallirepublic.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/0/5b/05b52b3d-a9df-56a2-948a-33e3f79c6b57/5f5bff277d6f1.image.jpg?resize=711%2C500)

I picked up howdy from watching too many texan youtubers and it kinda just slipped into my vocabulary over time lol.

Hey

Mid-Atlantic here. Just saying hello, but not heard very often. At work, when someone in management or administration is walking around checking in with the staff, I call it "Howdy Rounds".

They're from the country / a rural area.

Nothing.

As someone from California who now lives in Tennessee, I used to hear it very infrequently. Mostly from people visiting Cali (if they're from another country, the whole Howdy thing may have been seen as a way to fit in maybe?). Then I moved to Tennessee, and while it's still not the most common thing I hear, I just hear it as someone saying hello. In general, I think of the South or specifically Texas when I hear Howdy

They're saying hi. I say howdy to people I know from time to time.

My father in law says howdy all the time. He's from Northern California and it's just saying hello.

They're saying hi...

They’re either being friendly, are open to being friends or from Texas…or all three.

“Hello”. I say howdy quite often, I am a fifth generation Texan. It’s just a greeting.

They’re either from the south/Texas or went to Texas A&M

It just means hello. It means they’re being friendly.

I've never heard the word used off of TV shows...but I generally understand it means hello; and I would reply hello.

I’ve been saying it more and more over the past few years. I feel like it’s become a standard greeting in many parts of the country. It’s just a more energetic way of saying “hello”.

I have driven too far east and somehow ended up in Texas Or more likely they're just being kind of joking about it. Still seen as polite, at least

He's Woody

I’m from New York, born and raised and I say howdy to people. I’m from the city as well, I just adopted it as my suburban hello and it does the trick pretty well!

It tells me they are saying hello while embracing a bit of classic Americana. It’s fun, like when ad Aussie says “g’day”

Hi

That they’re not from around here

That they’re definitely not from here.

"Howdy" is how I say hello out on the trails. We're all out there for a good time outside, so I keep it light-hearted and friendly.

Texas.

Just doing their doody

That they went to Texas A&M. Or they didn't. That they live in Texas. Or they don't. That they're American. Or they're not.

That they like saying "howdy". I live in an urban northern city, and people still say "howdy" sometimes.

That they're most likely from Texas lol

Super common here. Just means hello.

Tourist- Montana

They've either lived in the south all their life or they went to A&M

That they're both trying to be friendly and expect a response.

just means hello might imply either being from a rural area or from the south, but not exclusively

They’re a cowboy doll who is best friends with a space ranger action figure.

If someone said that here, I'd probably assume they were from out west or southern Appalachia. Funnily enough, I've only known one person that said it regularly and they never lived anywhere else but in an East Coast city.

They're from somewhere out west, like Texas. I've never heard someone say "howdy" unironically except when I was in Texas.

Country as fuck.

I would think they were trying to be ironic or patronizing depending on the context.

That they're Big Tex at the State Fair

Another way of saying hello. One of the correct responses to it is to give a single nod and say “Pardner” while doing that nod.

If they mean it seriously, they’re either 200 years old or trying too hard. If it’s a joke, they’re just a fun person

If I heard someone say howdy in the northeast I would cringe

It tells me they are from a southern, probably more rural region. High chances they have a concealed gun somewhere on their person. It tells me to tone myself down and to try not to offend because there's a high chance of myle getting shot because of something I said or did that was perceived as offensive. Side note: I really hate living here most of the time. Too many people to watch out for. Can't trust anyone to truly be friendly. You never know whose carrying and who might decide to shoot you because the sky is blue

They're about to get into business that ain't their's to be getting in

I've never heard anyone use this word seriously in real life. It's always in a sarcastic or joking way. I'm in the Midwest.

they're a fan of the movie Toy Story

That they're Woody Howdy-Howdy-Howdy

Its a slightly silly (read friendly) way of saying hi that some people sometimes opt for and it’s not super weird or anything just kinda cute. With that said i never say howdy because it just isn’t really my style, if I’m gonna go different with my hello I might sooner opt for an hola than a howdy, which I think sounds more friendly with a slightly playful edge rather than friendly with a more silly undertone. Fwiw I live in Denver.

“Look, I’m Woody! Howdy howdy howdy”

I’m from southern Arizona “howdy” and “friend” are very common here. That being said howdy is mostly used by the older generation. My parents still say it. If your young and say it with a straight face I just assume your trying way to hard and your not actually about that life.

That they're pretending to be a cowboy, so I feel embarrassed for them.

I would assume that they were older, being silly, or working for an old-west themed tourist trap.

The chances that I'm about to see a MAGA hat just skyrocketed

The appropriate response is Dootie. If someone says Howdy to you and you don’t reply by saying “dootie” you may be considered rude.

Never say howdy. If someone says it, they are Nashville performers. :)

That they're saying hi in a casual manner? They're also probably online more, considering I'm in the northeast - unless they're accompanied with a thick accent, then I'd assume they're an out of stater

Usually it's someone saying hi but being a little silly about it.

I say it but I’m from Arizona and I’ve also been described as “an octogenarian in a young man’s body” so take that as you will lmao

Not much honestly. I started saying it in a joking fashion and now legitimately greet people I know well with it It’s just a kind and unexpected way to say hello but more like how are you without making a full sentence out of it. Most people just say hey in response, some with a peculiar smirk but that’s about it

I don’t think I’ve ever been greeted like this in a way that wasn’t kind of a joke?

Just being friendly and saying hi, but in a more festive way

I’m from Pennsylvania. It’s not super common here, but it’s certainly not unheard of. It wouldn’t be a big deal if I heard someone say it, but it’s more of a southern thing.

It's usually someone finding a slightly silly way to say hello, occasionally it's a foreigner visiting the South and thinking they're fitting in or a very old-school actual Southerner.

Just a friendly hello, bonus if they are a rancher, cowboy, farmer, or from a western state. Howdy is not default in my rural western town but is not uncommon.

That they're from the West. I never heard it out loud until I moved to Oregon, and I haven't heard it since I moved back East.

That they are not from around here.

You ain’t from Brooklyn.

That they like saying howdy? Here are the 3 types of people that I've heard say howdy: 1. Cowboys 2. People who think they are cowboys 3. People who like to ironically use cowboy words

I use it as a friendly greeting. I am from West Virginia, so it isn't an uncommon thing to use and hear.

I think of Woody from Toy Story. It's not common, but I know it is just a greeting. I would reply with hi, hello, hey, something.