The word hello is used frequently in an English speakers day. Every time you pick up your phone or greet somebody, the word hello is probably used. And every time you utter the word hello to somebody it is then quite likely that they will respond with yet another hello. The English language would seem rather peculiar if the word hello did not exist. It is quite shocking to find then that as words go, hello is actually a fairly modern invention.

The Oxford English Dictionary says the first published use of “hello” goes back only to 1827. And it wasn’t mainly a greeting back then. Ammon says people in the 1830′s said hello to attract attention (“Hello, what do you think you’re doing?”), or to express surprise (“Hello, what have we here?”). Hello didn’t become “hi” until the telephone arrived. The dictionary says it was Thomas Edison who put hello into common usage. He urged the people who used his phone to say “hello” when answering. His rival, Alexander Graham Bell, thought the better word was “ahoy.”

Ahoy actually predates the word hello and it was a strong contender for what one said when they picked up a telephone. How did hello beat ahoy?

Aamon points to the telephone book. The first phone books included authoritative How To sections on their first pages and “hello” was frequently the officially sanctioned greeting.

All I have to say is thank the Lord the How To sections managed to influence people and Alexander Graham Bell didn’t get his way. Can you imagine answering your telephone with “Ahoy there Emma I’ll be with you in a minute”? We’d all sound like pirates.

[via: NPR]