http://www.abc.net.au/newsradio/txt/s1380439.htm


Hooroo

Presented by Kel Richards

Hooroo is a distinctively Australian way of saying “goodbye”.
Only in Australia did “hooray” come to mean “goodbye”It’s so distinctive to us that you’ll find it in the Macquarie, The Australian National Dictionary and the Australian Oxford but it’s missing from the full Oxford English Dictionary and from Webster’s. Hooroo is first recorded in The Bulletin in 1906 in the expression “Hooroo. See yer termorrer.” It’s based on the earlier expression “hooray” – also used in Australia (but only here) to mean “goodbye”. This is first recoded in The Bulletin in 1898 with the following explanation: “In many places the salutation ‘good-day’ or ‘good-night’ is simply ‘Hooray!’” “Hurrah” or “Hurray” is, of course, a general shout or cheer and goes back to at least to the 17th century. Only in Australia did “hooray” come to mean “goodbye” – and only here was “hooray” changed to become hooroo. And according the ABC’s Word Map the “H” is often dropped and it becomes simply ‘ooroo!