So I have been ever so careful when using “hey” over a “hi” or a “hello”. I thought this was a very English thing, but quite surprising to find quite a few English folks on this page to be okay with “hey”.
I have a problem with being addressed by the word “Hey”. Third, because they will continue to do so because they think they are better/higher than you. Lastly, it makes me feel that as a human being, we haven’t made it as far as we thought.
In Britain it would suggest you are about to rebuke or criticise the addressee, and is no good as a greeting for this reason. On the other hand the British really don’t know what to say instead of ‘hey’. Here in Dorset people enquire, seemingly anxiously, “You all right then?” on 
a rising note which can end in a shriek. I would prefer ‘hey’, but settle for ‘good evening/morning/afternoon’.
I have discovered an American comedy show on British television called ‘Everyone loves Raymond’, in which all members of a family whose ancestors come from Italy but who now live on Long Island greet one another on each entrance on set by saying ‘hey’ in a listless manner
Title: “Hi is for Girls”Hey everybody! Its almost 11 years later from the original post. There was a fellow Cincinnatian who posted how we used it here. Cincinnati is considered the “Gateway to the North” & we have both Northern & Southern influences here.
Hey, to my understanding, started as an exclamation followed by a comment or question. Eg: “Hey! How have you been?” “Hey! Nice to see you!” and then everything else got dropped and we are left with “Hey!” then the exclamation got dropped and so “Hey” came to carry the same meaning as “Hi”.
Now here’s what I meant by “Hi is for girls”. Around here girls use Hi more than guys. Hi is cuter and softer.
If you’re male and speaking to another male informally and say “Hi” it might be interpreted as effeminate, old-school or just plain nerdy. Now if the two males are on more formal speaking terms then “Hi” would not be interpreted that way.
So if you don’t know someone say “Hi, how are you.” If you’re meeting with the guys to go out to the gym or a night in the city & you say “hi” then you might be teased unless you’ve all found the softer sides of yourselves.
Trust me, when you get to my age, mid 60s, you will start complaining when you hear words spoken which you have grown up with all your life, being given totally different meanings and you are supposed to calmly accept these new meanings without having a clue why they have been changed. If someone comes up to me and says hey as a greeting, then for me I am waiting for them to finish. Even when I just hear it in plays or films, it makes me feel very uncomfortable. I’m not writing here to say it’s right or wrong just to make folk understand that it can be very unsettling for some of us.
First that is not my name and second I find that people do that because they don’t respect you enough to use your name
It speaks volumes though only one word is spoken. It’s a deep expression of emotional feelings from one or both parties. It is softly spoken and sometimes can’t be heard by 3rd parties present but the two minds that are connected. Mostly used when there’s a barrier to loving each other openly, often used in electronic messaging to call each others attention or to just say “I’m missing you ” while playing safe in case the message drops into wrong hands, then it can be easily classified as “an ordinary greeting”