Fox News Co-Anchor Bill Hemmer

 I don’t think there is a newsman on TV that says ‘Hey,’ more than the talented, articulate Fox News broadcaster, Bill Hemmer.

He certainly appears to be a rising young star at Fox, now appearing twice a day on air and if that simple cozy word of delight ’Hey,’ besides his obvious talent, helped him to get to the top of the heap in the Big Apple at such a young age, so be it.

I’m just intrigued by the word and its overuse, but in many situations it’s a delightful use.

For example “Hey, Don Storch here.”

It has a ring of pleasure, I’m not just introducing myself to you but it seems as though I’m expressing delight in meeting you.

Hey is a replacement for hi or hello, but it is used to attract attention or to express surprise, appreciation, wonder, or pleasure.

This is what Hemmer does when he welcomes a guest on the show, he tends to make most feel comfortable and that he is glad to have him, or her, on the show.

Originally, hey was just an exclamation.  We also have seen it as an expression of delight, but also a warning.  It is used as emphasis.

But more often it is replacing Hi, but more closely aligned to “How are you?”

Until recently this greeting had a distinctly Southern flavor restricted chiefly to Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas.

A 1994 TV ad for Dewar’s Scotch whisky shows that the word but often precedes hey, and in this particular use: “It’s not easy at first, but hey, neither are a lot of things.”

And, how can we forget the first verse of the song recorded by Charlie Rich, “The Most Beautiful Girl”

Hey, did you happen to see the most beautiful girl in the world?
And if you did was she crying, crying?
Hey, if you happen to see the most beautiful girl, that walked out on me
Tell her I’m sorry, tell her I need my baby 
Oh, won’t you tell her, that I love her.

And so as you can see there is a certain affection to the word and even though Hemmer doesn’t come from one of the states of its most frequent use – he is a native of Cincinnati — we won’t hold that against him for the friendly hey is spreading throughout the United States, and Hemmer is doing his job to help it along.