hi-de-hi...ho-de-ho, phr. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

hi-de-hi...ho-de-ho phr.

[orig. used by US bandleader Cab Calloway in ‘The Hi-De-Ho Man’ but popularized in BBC TV’s situation comedy, Hi De Hi! (1970s–80s), which was set in a 1950s holiday camp]

a popular style of greeting and the requisite response.

1935		Cab Calloway ‘Keep That Hi-De-Hi in Your Soul’ 🎵 Hi-de-hi-de-hi! / Ho-de-ho-de-ho! [...] Keep that hi-de-hi in your soul!
1941		G. Kersh They Die with their Boots Clean 67: ‘Now, when I say Hi-de-Hi Squad! you shout Ho-de-Ho!–and shout it loud! Now: Hi-de-Hi Squad!’ We roar: ‘Ho-de-Ho!’.
1941		C. Brackett & B. Wilder Ball of Fire [film script] — Hi-de-ho, fellows. — Hi-de-ho.
[1976		(ref. to 1931) Cab Calloway Of Minnie the Moocher and Me 112: During one show that was being broadcast over nationwide radio in the spring of 1931, not long after we started using ‘Minnie the Moocher’ as our theme song, I was singing, and in the middle of a verse, as it happens sometimes, the damned lyrics went right out of my head. [...] so I just started to scat-sing the first thing that came into my mind. ‘Hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-ho. Hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-ho. Ho-de-ho-de-ho-de-hee. Oodlee-odlyee-odlyee-oodlee-doo. Hi-de-ho-de-ho-de-hee.’ The crowd went crazy. And I went on with it – right over live radio – like it was written that way].