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.