The Surprisingly Simple Reason We Say ‘Hello’ When We Answer the Phone

Thank Thomas Edison for this uniform phone greeting. If Alexander Graham Bell had his way, we’d all talking like pirates.

It’s pure instinct. When our phones ring—after checking caller ID, of course—we pick up and say, “Hello?”

But if Alexander Graham Bell had his way, we would be saying “Ahoy.”

The-Surprisingly-Simple-Reason-We-Say-'Hello'-When-We-Answer-the-PhoneTatiana Ayazo/Rd.com

The word “ahoy” has been around for at least 100 years longer than “hello.” It came from the Dutch word “hoi,” also a greeting. According to NPR, Bell was so certain it would catch on as the perfect phone conversation starter that he used it for the rest of his life.

The-Surprisingly-Simple-Reason-We-Say-'Hello'-When-We-Answer-the-PhoneTatiana Ayazo/Rd.com

Luckily, we don’t have to talk like pirates every time we pick up the phone. You can thank Thomas Edison for that. He was the one who proposed “hello” as the proper greeting, to the chagrin of his rival Bell. At the time, telephones were thought of like modern walkie-talkies, where the line would stay permanently open so businesses could communicate with each other whenever they pleased. The problem was letting the one side know when the other wanted to talk. In a letter to the president of the Central District and Printing Telegraph Company in Pittsburgh, who was about to bring the telephone to that city, Edison suggested saying “Hello!” would be the best way to get someone’s attention.

He was right. “Hello” was noted as the official greeting in many of the first phone books. Official manuals of the first telephone exchanges (Ever see movies where switchboard operators connected two callers? That’s a telephone exchange) gave “hello” equal importance.

The-Surprisingly-Simple-Reason-We-Say-'Hello'-When-We-Answer-the-PhoneTatiana Ayazo/Rd.com

Of course, what comes after “hello” is what really actually matters. If you can’t think up a memorable conversation starter, Edison would have done all that hard work for nothing.

Claire Nowak
Claire is a writer, editor and digital strategist with more than 10 years of experience reporting on facts, trivia and quotes. Her natural curiosity lends itself to stories on history, trivia and "Did you know?" curiosities, and her work has appeared in Taste of Home, The Family Handyman, The Healthy and iHeart Media. A former editor at Reader's Digest and proud Marquette University grad, she lives in Milwaukee with her fiancé and their corgi and enjoys binge-listening to true-crime podcasts.