Leonso Canales Jr. was on cloud nine. It was the beginning of a new year in 1997, and he had emerged victorious in his battle against a pervasive threat that had plagued his community in Kingsville, Texas for years. But this was not your typical pest or villain – it was a simple word. Hello.
For nearly a decade, the 56-year-old veteran and proud owner of a local flea market had harboured a deep disdain for the word. It all started in 1988 when he answered a call from his brother and suddenly realised that the innocent greeting could also be interpreted as a curse, as it entailed the word 'hell'.
That moment was like a slap in the face, he recalled in a 1997 column by John Kelso in the Austin American-Statesman. Canales was frustrated with the negative connotations attached to a word that was so commonly used to initiate conversations. He began to advocate for an alternative, suggesting ‘God-o,’ but his brother countered with heaven-o, which he liked even more.
However, It was not until November of 1996 that Canales took his campaign to the next level, purchasing ads in the local Kingsville newspaper promoting ‘heaven-o' while crossing out ‘hello.’ He continued his crusade by proposing a resolution to the Kleberg County commissioners, urging them to adopt heaven-o' as the official greeting of the county.
According to Canales, the new greeting would serve as a symbol of peace, friendship, and welcome, benefiting everyone living in what he felt was the “age of anxiety." And on a momentous day in January 1997, the commissioners unanimously voted in favour of the resolution, cementing the triumph of Canales mission to replace the ubiquitous 'hello' with the more positive ‘heaven-o.’
Canales’ quest to replace 'hello' with heaven-o' did not just capture the attention of local officials in Texas; it also landed him on international news programmes through satellite interviews. Despite some pushback from a man named Carl Matthews who claimed to have coined the phrase decades earlier, Canales remained undeterred. In an interview, Matthews claimed that Canales would have to "yield" to his copyright of the phrase, comparing it to finding a lost wallet and returning it to its rightful owner. However, as it turns out, catchphrases like 'heaven-o' are not protected by copyright law-only trademarks are.
In the end, Canales legacy as the inventor of the blessed jovial greeting remained untarnished. When he passed away in 2014, his obituary lauded him as a "world-renowned figure", thanks to his innovative greeting. There was no mention of Matthews, perhaps indicating that Canales had never acknowledged him as the true creator of heaven-o'.
Picture Credit : Google
