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Bluenorthwest

(45,319 posts)

5. The short history of 'hello' as standard English greeting is pretty interesting itself.

Mon Dec 2, 2013, 11:36 AM

Dec 2013

When telephones were new, Alexander Bell advocated 'ahoy' as the greeting to use when lifting the earpiece, Edison advocated 'hello'. Edison won and the greeting quickly spread out from the phones to become the greeting for live encounters as well. Myself, I wish we'd gone with 'ahoy' because it has some whimsey, or seems to since we don't use it constantly. Imagine the songs! Beatles 'Ahoy/Goodbye'. Lionel Ritchie with the simply titled 'Ahoy'.

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I See You. [View all] MineralMan Dec 2013 OP

Namaste GliderGuider Dec 2013 #1

Thank you! MineralMan Dec 2013 #2

Phatic statement. Orrex Dec 2013 #3

Would it? I don't think that's necessarily MineralMan Dec 2013 #4

"God Bless You" is also a complete sentence. So is "Hey, how are you doing?" Orrex Dec 2013 #14

The thing is that I'm not trying to convince you of anything. MineralMan Dec 2013 #15

Well, all right. Orrex Dec 2013 #18

The short history of 'hello' as standard English greeting is pretty interesting itself. Bluenorthwest Dec 2013 #5

Hallo, Hullo, Ola, and variations MineralMan Dec 2013 #7

Edison did not coin the word, he simply oversaw that which broght the word into constant useage. Bluenorthwest Dec 2013 #10

Hahahah!!! pipi_k Dec 2013 #8

And so on! Bluenorthwest Dec 2013 #11

From the viewpoint pipi_k Dec 2013 #6

I can see your issue with it, for sure. MineralMan Dec 2013 #9

Yes... pipi_k Dec 2013 #12

"I see you" is also the greeting used by the blue people in Avatar. Bluenorthwest Dec 2013 #13

I'd forgotten that. Looks like the writers for that MineralMan Dec 2013 #16

Very true ... 1StrongBlackMan Dec 2013 #17