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The etiquette of telecommunications

December 18, 2007 | RSS | EMAIL | PRINT | 2 COMMENTS

The whole article is an interesting look at how everyone says the same thing whenever a new technology comes around. However, this was the kicker for me: "When the telephone appeared in the 1870s, people worried about receiving calls from people to whom they had not been properly introduced. And what should one say when picking up the receiver? Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, suggested “Ahoy, ahoy�. But as in many other respects, his ideas lost out to those of Thomas Edison, who preferred “Hello�, an expression that was rarely used before the telephone but is now ubiquitous."

I think I'm going to start answering the phone with "Ahoy, ahoy."

Update (12/19/07): As Jarrett pointed out in the comments, Mr. Burns from The Simpsons answers the phone with "ahoy ahoy" (listen to it here). Also, here's a bit more on hello from Wikipedia.

Tags: culture, media


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COMMENTS

1Jarrett

Is this why Mr. Burns answers the phone with Ahoy, ahoy?

December 18, 2007

2Charles Frith

Really enjoying these posts lately Noah. One of the slides I was nudged to delete from a recent presentation is McLuhan who points out that the word 'phony' comes from that strange voice that people had while around the invention of the telephone. You can still see it today when people shout into a mobile in a manner they would never do at home.

I'm going to start saying hello when I want a ship I'm going on course to hit, to move out the way ;) Happy holidays Noah.

December 20, 2007