おっす！ An abbreviation for ... what exactly?


Going hiking here in Japan, you can hardly pass anyone without either saying
お疲れさまです, おはようございます (I go hiking in the morning) or こんにちは.

Some people (young males in particular) greet you with either チュワッ or オッス. A
great idea, since everybody's out of breath. I gather that チュワッ is a
contraction of こんにちは, but オッス could be either お疲れさまです or おはようございます. Does the
person greeting you with オッス actually have one of the two possible greetings
in mind, or is it just used more like a universal sound, which can be used in
any situation?




It might have been おっす instead. According to [gogen](http://gogen-
allguide.com/o/ossu.html), it's おはようございます that has undergone shortening to
form おっす.

