In the early days of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell suggested using “ahoy, ahoy” when users answered because the device borrowed so much from telegraph and nautical greetings. Meanwhile, the word “hello” had already existed in English since the early 1800s, but it was mostly used as an exclamation of surprise or to hail someone across a distance.

Around 1877, Thomas Edison, working with telephone developers, proposed that people answer their calls with “hello!” instead of using mechanical bells or “ahoy”. In a letter from August 15, 1877, he argued that a loud “Hello!” could act like a call bell and be heard clearly. Telephone-company manuals and manuals for operators began recommending “hello” as the standard greeting, and by the 1880s it had become the common way to pick up the ph

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