The History of Hello

Did you ever wonder where the word hello started? No you probably didn’t. I read it in some form last week, I think in Wired Magazine. But it is an interesting how it came about and it makes perfect sense. Of course, there is already an extensive entry on Wikipedia:

The word hello has also been credited to Thomas Edison, specifically as a way to greet someone when answering the telephone; according to one source, he expressed his surprise with a misheard Hullo.

Alexander Graham Bell initially used Ahoy (as used on ships) as a telephone greeting... By 1889, central telephone exchange operators were known as 'hello-girls' due to the association between the greeting and the telephone.

Edison doing his thing.

So Edison invented the light bulb, the phonograph, the kinetoscope (in one way or another), and created the beginning of every day conversation practically by accident. Mr. Edison lived quite the life. And imagine saying "Ahoy! Ahoy!" like Mr. Bell, it would be fun to throw it in once in a while into everyday conversation. Then you can spit back what you just learned. You learn something new everyday!