Eh, throwing a spanner in a secretary's works

You get a job and it has it's specific lingo and Colloquialisms to go with it. Mainly because they do not need any other vocab in every day ramblings...

Would you typically hear a historian saying; 'if you forget to wash your hands before handling food you will get in trouble'

Would you typically hear a janitor going; 'due to the economic down turn investment in retail property has declined in the first quarter of this tax year'

More than likely not. But if they did use those unusual phrases their peers would be very taken aback and not know how to react. Very much like a sectretary ringing up a young person

This was a humorous event of today. I was outta the house, with the first woman of my life (Hi Mom) and she got a call from someone. It was a private number, so naturally enough we didn't know who it was. They rang back, still a private number, and I answered with a big 'WHAAAT'S UP?....' This is where professions can fail with different Colloquialisms of different people of the same language. So when I said the 'WHAAAAT'S UP?' I was met by a complete and utter BLANK. The poor woman at the end of the phone had no idea how to react to my teenage language. I thought I was being a bit impulsive because I was in a bubbly mood. But she was completely under-prepared for it.

After a second or two I decided to continue the conversation seing as she was stumped! She was actually looking for me so we continued the conversation as it would have normally...

Should I have just been boring and said the usual Hello, or be extra-ordinary and impulsive? I know which I prefer...