YO

interjection (Youth Culture) Among young people (especially in the US): an exclamation used in greeting or to express excitement etc., and associated particularly with rap and hip hop culture; hey! Etymology: Yo has been used as an exclamation to attract attention (especially when warning of some danger) since the fifteenth century, and is familiar to many in the sailor's yo-ho-ho; the present use is a re-adoption of the old word in a new context by a limited group of people, who use it as a cult expression. History and Usage: Yo started in Black street slang in the US, probably during the late seventies, and was popularized through the spread of rap and hip hop to White youth culture during the eighties. By the end of the eighties it had become a fashionable greeting among youngsters in the UK as well as the US; a fashion which was reinforced, perhaps, by its use in the popular television series The Simpsons and in a number of films featuring Sylvester Stallone. During the holiday, wherever he roamed in his Watts neighborhood, congratulations rained down. 'Yo, Hagan! Nice job, man!' Sports Illustrated 25 Dec. 1989, p. 45 Yo, man, quit lookin' at 'em! You got detec written all over you. Village Voice (New York) 30 Jan. 1990, p. 35 The Guardian Angels...applauded him with a meaty sound. Great fists, many gloved, bashed into each other. 'Yo,' they shouted, rather than anything English. Independent 16 May 1990, p. 6