Trope Namer is Real Life. Obviously.
Fun fact: "Hello" (or "hullo") used to be an expression of surprise or questioning (as in "Hullo, what's this?") until around the turn of the 20th century when it became the standard expression for answering the telephone. The modern use and spelling was "invented" by Thomas Edison; the first use of it with modern spelling was as a greeting in a letter from him to Alexander Graham Bell in 1887. note Hello, or rather "Hallu" from the hunting fields, was also the first recorded word, shouted by Edison to test Bell's prototype. (This would have been the rather nautical "Ahoy-hoy!" if Graham Bell had his way. Mr. Burns would approve.) From there it went on to become the catch-all greeting it is today. In French, "Bonjour"note Formal greeting, "Salut"note Friendly/familiar greeting & "Allo"note Phone greeting. In Japan, they say "Konnichiwa" or (on the phone) "Moshi moshi" (which has a similar quirky origin story). However, lots of countries do include some variant of "Hello" or "Allo" even if only for answering the phone. Interestingly, the German "Hallo" is still also used to express surprise or disbelief, but it's probably more likely in Austria than in Germany.
Related tropes include Crash into Hello, Hello, Nurse!, Hello, Sailor, Stealth Hi/Bye, Click Hello, Twang Hello, Attack Hello, Incoming Ham, Doctor Doctor Doctor, and numerous others.
Contrast Goodbye.
Examples:
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Advertising
Hello, ladies. Look at me, now back to your monitor, now back to me, now back to your monitor. Sadly, I'm not on your monitor. Look down, back up. I'm on a webpage. note You just read this in my voice.
Inverted by Superman foe Bizarro, who is the reverse Superman, and thus does everything backwards, greeting Superman with a hearty "Goodbye, Superman" and usually leaving with a "Hello".
In Day of the Dead, the group regularly fly out on a helicopter, set down and shout HELLO through a megaphone. Seems to be their whole search method for survivors. That and calling on the radio, but the ones they have are in poor condition and don't have the range.
In 28 Days Later Jim wandered through the deserted London shouting hello and would say it whenever he entered a building, searching for survivors. It became his catchphrase as this situation became more apparent and his naiveté began to evaporate, fast. At the end of the film the word 'hello' is incorporated into their signal to the outside world, spelled out on the grass on an idyllic Ghibli Hill, and (implicitly) is what caught the notice of their rescuers.
In 2009's Star Trek, after the USS Kelvin is overpowered and nearly destroyed by the mysterious black ship, Ayel hails them, calmly beginning the message with, "Hello..."
Ayel's captain is similarly friendly and informal when hailing the Enterprise:
The fact that "hello" can turn into "hell" crops up:
Motel Hell is a comedy horror movie centering around Motel Hello, which has a faulty neon letter.
In Batman Returns, Catwoman smashes her "Hello There" sign, removing the 'o' and 'T'.
See: THEATRE below...
Literature
In Slaughterhouse-Five, the standard greeting among Tralfamdorians, who see all of time at once and as unchangeable, is "Goodbye. Hello. Goodbye. Hello."
Another example from weird science fiction: In Philip K. Dick's Counter-Clock World, time is running backwards, so people say "Goodbye" when they meet and "Hello" when they part. This becomes sad and poignant when the protagonist gets a call from his wife, telling him she's leaving him. She ends the conversation by saying "Hello."
Lord of the Rings: The standard Orcish greeting is "Ashdautas Vrasubatlat" — "Someday I will kill you", the usual reply is "Nar Udautas" — "Not today".
Live Action TV
The Three Stooges would answer the phone as if they were a barbershop quartet.
On a certain episode of Seinfeld entitled "The Voice", the titular character mocks his girlfriend's nighttime stomach gurgling with a loud, booming voice, bellowing "HELLOOOOO...la la laaaa"
According to Look Around You's "Maths" episode, the numeral 3 equals "hello" in the "language of numbers." Also, on the show's periodic table, "Hello" (atomic symbol "Hi") can be found in place of selenium.
In Doctor Who, after the Doctor recently regenerates into his eleventh incarnation, he drives away invading Atraxi with the following words in "The Eleventh Hour", after they discover that his previous incarnations are responsible for the defeat of hundreds of past Earth invaders.
The Glee episode "Hell-O" covers this trope quite well. It even features several of the songs listed below and a reference to the origin of the term as described above.
It also parodied the standard "hello" greeting used on the phone:
Will: For example, what do you guys say when you pick up the phone?
In an episode of Modern Family Cameron says that unlike his partner Mitchell who had to convince his parents that he was gay, his mother knew he was the minute he came out of the womb saying "He-lllllllooooo!"
Tommy Cockles's catchphrase on The Fast Show. Unfortunate when he was cast as 'Third Nazi' (a "role I made my own incidentally") in a wartime propaganda film: First Nazi: "Sieg heil!" Second Nazi: "Sieg heil!" Third Nazi: "Hello there!"
HELLO!!...WHAT?? ...NAH, I'M JUST EXPLAINING THAT THIS TROPE WAS USED BY THE "ANNOYING PHONE GUY" IN Trigger Happy TV. ...NAH, IT'S RUBBISH.CIAO!!!
Arrested Development had Annyong. Which becomes even funnier when in the last episode we learn his real name is Hel-loh.
They covered the origin story of the word in one episode of QI, in which Stephen Fry was mocked for still using it in the surprised sense of "Hello, what's this?"
Alan: Stephen, what was the last thing that made you go "Hello?"
Rimmer in Red Dwarf has a ... complex theory about how aliens might say this.
(referring to Lister and the Cat and their broken feet) 'It hurts like HELL, right? And it's beLOW the knees. They did it twice—TO. And (the recently completed) jigsaw must mean "you". "Hello to you"!'
The final challenge of the 21st season of the U.S. version of The Amazing Race was for the racers to identify the phrases for hello and goodbye used by the Pit Stop greeters at each country they visited. They all took a long time because this was the one thing they didn't pay attention to.
[Cough] Should be noted that's a soundclip from Day of the Dead at the beginning of "M1 A1". Then the actual music proper kicks in. It's scary first, and then unmitigated awesome.
Ferry Corsten's Passport United States of America mix features a track called "Hello (Original Mix)" by Poison Pro. Appropriately enough, it's the first track on the mix.
Sometimes averted by Laura Marling, sometimes played straight... she introduces herself a lot of the time (even at concerts) by saying either "Hi, I'm Laura," or "Hello, my name's Laura."
In that same vein, we mustn't forget the faster-paced "Hello Hello."
Other
The ever-popular "Hello, World!" program, often considered a newbie's introduction to serious scripting.
Virgin Mobile cell phones, whenever you turn them on, print to the screen, 'Hello' in a style appropriate to the phone before showing the Virgin Mobile logo, from the same font as they have on their website on higher-end Android phones, to Impact-Bold all-caps display on their low-end Kyocera Jax model.
When the LG Aloha starts up, it doesn't say HELLO; it says ALOHA.
Some CD and DVD players display "Hello" or "hEllO" on their displays when powered on.
Catch Phrase of Clyde Gilmour, late host of the CBC classical radio show Gilmour's Albums - a warm, avuncular "Hello!" at the beginning of each broadcast. A parody show portrayed him singing The Beatles' "Hello Goodbye."
In the second game as well, Wheatley pulls this right after GLaDOS reactivates.
In Rome: Total War, the content of your general's pre-battle speech is influenced by his reputation. Most of the speeches of Roman generals are strings of loud, gung-horallying cries. However, if your general is known as a tedious public speaker, there's a chance you will be treated to an almost inaudibly soft-spoken speech that goes something like this:
Hello. We are gathered here today to do battle. Regrettable, isn't it? I didn't want to be here myself, but my grandmother told me that I better make a good show out of it. So here it goes.
The Imperial Guard Ogryn in Dawn of War will sometimes say "Hull-lo!" when clicking on them, rather than the myriad permutations of "Yes sir!" that the normal Guardsmen use.
