First words: hello, ahoy, or hail?
1 With the invention of the telephone, people needed to decide what to say when they answered a call. A simple “Hi”? Or how about “Hello”? Or perhaps a more classical “Hail”?
Alexander Graham Bell preferred “Ahoy”, but Thomas Edison thought that “Hello” was a better choice. During the first years of the telephone’s existence, there was significant debate as to the correct phrase.
In the end, “Hello” won