American natives

[tanyavee]

Did American natives really say "how" when meeting someone?

[uni boy 04]

I dont think so, i believe it was a frontier myth. But there were derivatives of the word used as greeting in a few tribes like 'HOWO', or so a history lecture told me...:-)

[Quizmonster]

�How' is the anglicised version of a Sioux Indian word �hao', meaning �good', which is just part of their greeting �'hao kola', meaning �all is well, friend'.  To accompany this statement, an open hand was generally raised - in much the same way as the modern military salute - to show one was unarmed and friendly.  Thus it was that so many of the old western movies showed Native Americans saying and doing just that.  As a matter of interest, the word �hao' is echoed in Cantonese �ho' and even the Hungarian �yo', both meaning �good' also.

[Octavius]

Homer also used the word 'doh!', but this wasn't so good.

[THECORBYLOON]

Did Homer not say "DOH! To be in England, now that April's here".......

[landie]

Actually they said, ''Who?''.

It was later misspelled as ''How''.

[rutineli]

If they didn't know how why was there so many of them?

rut.