Hello?

Posted by ESC on April 04, 2003

In Reply to: Hello! posted by andrew on April 04, 2003

: when did that (annoying) expression "hello!" (meaning to express disbelief regarding a situation or a previous statement) (sometimes used as "I mean , hello!") come into existence
: I think it is american, west coast, probably 'valley speak'

This reference has a first citation in 1985:

HELLO - "typically pronounced with strong stress and falling intonation on ultimate syllable/ interj. (used to call attention to the foolishness of an idea, comment, etc.) 1985 Gale & Zemeckis 'Back to the Future' (film): 'Hello? McFly?'." From Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang, Volume 2, H-O by J.E. Lighter, Random House, New York, 1994.