hello yourself

9.0

A sharp, rude answer when someone ignores your greeting

idiom

Offensive

: hola a ti

When I waved and he walked past without a word, I muttered, 'hello yourself.'

Examples

She barely nodded at me, so I shot back, 'hello yourself.'
When she ignored my greeting, I simply said, 'hello yourself.'
After being ignored all morning, Tom finally said 'hello yourself' as she walked by.
Oh, hello yourself!
After being ignored all morning, Tom finally said 'hello yourself' as she walked by.
She barely nodded at me, so I shot back, 'hello yourself.'
When I waved and he walked past without a word, I muttered, 'hello yourself.'

Antonyms

to welcome

583 1.0

Greet someone in a friendly way when they arrive

Surface Forms

hello yourself main

Morphology

hello + yourself

The phrase is compositionally built from 'hello' + 'yourself', so a learner can predict a reciprocal or echoed greeting from the constituents, but the sarcastic/pointed sense (used to rebuke or highlight rudeness) depends on pragmatic cues, tone, and convention. A B1 learner who knows the words may grasp a basic echo-greeting but is unlikely to infer the sarcastic, reproachful meaning without prior exposure.

Etymology

Hello yourself may come from turning someone's greeting back at them: you repeat hello and add yourself as if pointing the greeting back like a mirror to show you are annoyed. So it is used as a 'sarcastic reply' when someone ignores or is rude to your greeting.