"Howdy" for me. I'm from and live in the Northeast.
Started saying it ironically on work calls to break up the monotony of saying "Hey" when the host joined the meeting and said hello. It was pretty much just a joke at first. Now it's about 50% of what I say in response to someone joining the meeting saying hello.
Honestly, I kind of like it. It's folksy, friendly, simple, and informal. It's slipped out a couple of times when guests arrive at a family party and are walking in the door and saying their hellos, but it's mostly relegated to work meetings.
A few of my coworkers have even started doing it occasionally, so it seems like it's catching on.
I'm from the south and have fully embraced it in my vocabulary. I say howdy, I thank people kindly, and I call groups of guys fellas (or fellers, if I'm feeling like channeling Butters from South Park).
I first heard that used back in the 90s. I haaaaated it. I cringed from my head down to my soul.
One day I was standing outside my girlfriend’s house. She said, “I’ll get up around 9, you can come here about 9:30 if you want.” I replied (memory is in slow motion), “cooooool beeeeaaaaannnnsssuh”.
I spent the night unable to sleep. “Cool beans? Seriously? Cool fucking beans? She probably thinks you’re the king of fucking dorks. Cool beans? Gaaaaah!”
Next day we were hanging with our friends, she said “cool beans”. I was so fucking relieved.
Damn. The shit kids stress about. I wish my problems were more like that today haha.
I wonder what people think of me calling stuff "wicked", which I started saying because of Richard Blackwood's song "1.2.3.4 Get with the Wicked" in the year 2000
My ex fiance and I called eachother "babe" as a joke on our second date. We then proceeded to call eachother babe for the remainder of our three year relationship
I started mixing hard and soft expletives originally as a joke, yesterday I dropped a plant pot on my foot and before even thinking the first words that came out of my mouth were, "gosh fucking darn it."