Apparently “ahoy” was a common greeting before the telephone was invented, to the point that Alexander Graham Bell suggested it for use when answering the phone.
this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2024
495 points (97.9% liked)
HistoryMemes
2546 readers
5 users here now
founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS
Ahoy was common enough that the Simpsons had their oldest phone user answer with "Ahoy hoy?"
I think that gag was referencing Graham Bell's suggestion.
Graham Bell was referencing the age old tradition of greeting someone with "ahoy".
I'm not really convinced that "ahoy" was that common beforehand. AFAIK, Graham Bell wanted a different greeting than what was commonly used as to differentiate greeting on the phone with greeting IRL.
Confirmation this is the worst timeline.
Ahoy is the superior greeting. I support its return to standard use.
I'm a fan of "well met!"
"Well met, traveller!"
Move to Slovakia
While it wasn't a general greeting, "halloo" was already used as a verb meaning "to call for a hunting" in the 14th century.
also as an exclamation of surprise, like "halloo, what's this?"
"hello" is still occasionally used in this sense today.
found the german
idk if you're joking but not German; it was indeed halloo or holloo in English before hello became standard
“halloo, what’s this?”
"haaaallooooo" is used a lot by Germans as a slow exclamation to mean "hey idiot, what are you doing?"
Try actually saying "hey idiot, what are you doing?" some time. It's very good.
That's my morning mantra in front of the bathroom mirror
It's used this way in American English sometimes, as in a teen issuing a counterpoint "HellOOOOoooo"
Think McFly!!
Like the fox hunters in Mary Poppins?! D:
There are countries in the world, where you enter a room in the morning full of dear and beloved friends and colleagues, and you would neither greet them nor make eye contact until they wanted something from you.
I don't know whether this would be my heaven or my hell, but as a brit, useless smalltalk is practically baked into my bones.
I'll stick with the hellos. IMO meatspace human interaction feels like a privilege now.
Especially today where everyone wants to be alone because of overstimulation (but they might also feel lonely at the same time)
iirc the "Hello my baby, Hello my ragtime gal" song was written specifically about the telephone. "Hello" wasn't a common irl greeting at the time
Howard and Emerson in 1899: sup bring that booty girl btb"
Someone on social media literally cannot stop thinking about this.
Kateekalo!
