In 1876 the British patented Alexander Graham Bell the very first telephone. After the patent, a revolutionary change occurred for the whole world when the first telephone was launched.
Even though it was far from common to own or even have access to a telephone back then, there was a challenge: what would you actually say when the telephone rang and you picked up the receiver?
World History states that people used different variations of “Are you there? and “Can you hear me?”.
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Thomas Edison developed Alexander Graham Bell’s invention
With the different terms and the potential confusion it was sure to create, Graham Bell himself suggested an abbreviated alternative. Everyone would answer “ahoy” when the phone rang. At the time, it was a maritime greeting used by sailors at sea, the newspaper said.
For the rest of his life, Bell would answer the phone and just say “ahoy” to the person on the other end.
The American Inventor Thomas Edison however, over time came to improve the telephone Bell designed. In 1877 he invented a transmitter that allowed voices to be transmitted with greater volume and improved clarity over ordinary telephone lines.
However, he was not a fan of Bell’s greeting phrase. He instead believed that the public should say “hello” when they answered the phone.
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That’s why we say “hello” on the phone today
With the passage of time, the greeting phrase, which is still common today, got a real breakthrough. In 1878, the first telephone directory was launched in the USA and it also showed how telephone owners should use their telephone.
Edison then came to cooperate with the manufacturers of the catalog and added that conversations should always begin with the phrase “hello”, writes History of the World.
The newspaper also states that the word “hello” in particular is a development of “hail” which has been used in the English language since the Middle Ages and is linked to the English word “health” which means health.
The phrase quickly spread and then also the formal greeting phrase. As the years went by, this spread to the rest of the world, resulting in the fact that in Sweden it is not unusual at all to hear someone say “hello” when they answer the phone – even today.
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Source: nyheter24.se
