Now I am not talking about Howdy Doody, the children’s cartoon with a Western protagonist, I am talking about the word HOWDY.
Coming from Texas, I will admit that no one up north uses the word correctly. I hear the word thrown around comically, as if people down south do not actually use this word. Howdy is in fact an informal greeting, recognized by many as a real word, not simply a colloquial or slang greeting. Howdy originally stemmed from a full greeting, “How do you do?” In famous southern fashion, primarily Texas, the word has become the official slogan of Texas A & M.
Some theorists actually derive the meaning from Native American tribes in the southern regions, who did not speak English and would greet the settlers with ‘How-do How-do.’ When cultures began mixing and Creole became a massive cultural group, the words they had created became hybrid, and thus Howdy was born. Check out Texas A & M Howdy homepage for some funky Texas pride.