BrusselsSouth From Belgium, joined Aug 2001, 312 posts, RR: 0 Reply 3, posted (2 months 3 weeks 6 days 6 hours ago) and read 968 times:
As I'm just back from Hungary, I've heard that the word "Hallo" comes from the Hungarian language (it means "do you hear me ?"). Reportedly, this is the first thing that Tivadar Puskás, inventor of the Telephone exchange in 1877, said to test the newly invented telephone.
There's a reference to this in the following forum (second post). Don't know whether it's true or not...
EISHN From Ireland, joined Feb 2007, 1121 posts, RR: 3 Reply 5, posted (2 months 3 weeks 6 days 6 hours ago) and read 956 times:
From time to time I answer with "Batcave". It tends to get a few laughs. Other times I answer with "Gleeson Industries" (Gleeson being my surname), and I only ever get a surprised and curious hello back, never a laugh to that one. And from time to time I answer with "Yeah", but mostly, I use the good all traditional "Hello".
PlymSpotter From Spain, joined Jun 2004, 7044 posts, RR: 53 Reply 6, posted (2 months 3 weeks 6 days 6 hours ago) and read 949 times:
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The word 'Hello' was invented by Thomas Edison. I'll let Stephem Fry explain the rest...
(I knew about it before the episode of QI, but didn't know what why or how it came into being - it's a very useful program, not to mention a good laugh!)
ManuCH From Switzerland, joined Jun 2005, 1866 posts, RR: 23 Reply 7, posted (2 months 3 weeks 6 days 5 hours ago) and read 934 times:
I answer "Pronto?" which is the Italian equivalent of "Hello?". If it's someone I know well, I might answer in a stupid way like "Virtual sex association" or similar
If it's a telemarketing call, "What?!" is also nice ...
Rara From Germany, joined Jan 2007, 573 posts, RR: 0 Reply 8, posted (2 months 3 weeks 6 days 5 hours ago) and read 919 times:
I hate it if people in Germany answer the phone with "hello". It's customary here to say your name when picking up, and people that don't do it are a pet peeve of mine. Obviously not in other countries.
When I lived in America, people answered the phone with "yello" or something. Never knew what that was about, anyone know?
The Cantonese are also funny with their long-drawn "waaaaaaii???" when picking up.
AirframeAS From United States, joined Feb 2004, 7263 posts, RR: 16 Reply 10, posted (2 months 3 weeks 6 days 3 hours ago) and read 865 times:
One night, the phone was ringing off the hook (telemarketers...ughh!) and my ex-gf got sick of it. So the next time the phone rang...with me being deaf, I picked it up and replied the following introduction:
"Thank you for calling Pizza Hut, is this for take out or delivery??" Then hung up. That solved some of the insane phone calls from telemarketers for the night...
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N234NW From United States, joined Jul 2005, 49 posts, RR: 0 Reply 12, posted (2 months 3 weeks 6 days 1 hour ago) and read 820 times:
Alexander Graham Bell suggested "Ahoy-hoy" as the standard telephone greeting.
This is also how Mr. Burns in the Simpsons answers the phone.
"Hello" must have come into use soon after the development of the telephone, or I imagine we would all be saying something else. Personally, I answer my phone with "This is [my name]". My father says "Y'ello", and my brother "Wazzzzup" .
I find it interesting that when ever I get a "hello" on the phone, I always answer with "hi".
DocLightning From United States, joined Nov 2005, 3228 posts, RR: 13 Reply 17, posted (2 months 3 weeks 5 days 23 hours ago) and read 746 times:
Quoting HAWK21M (Thread starter): Why not anyother word.Although some say HI ,Tell me & Yup
In every English-speaking country, "Hello" is the standard greeting. Probably it has stuck because it has two syllables, making it less likely to be missed on a mis-timed connection and because it is a greeting.
In Spain, the standard greeting is: "¿Si?" which means "Yes?". Some also use "Dime" which means "tell me." More formally they can use "digame" which also means "tell me" but in a formal conjugation (there's no English equivalent to the Spanish formal and informals, but there used to be an informal English "thou" and a formal "you," which all got combined into the formal, which we use for everything). And in other parts of the Spanish-speaing world, the greeting is "¿Aló?" *shrugs*
DocLightning From United States, joined Nov 2005, 3228 posts, RR: 13 Reply 20, posted (2 months 3 weeks 5 days 22 hours ago) and read 726 times:
Quoting FlyDeltaJets87 (Reply 23): My two standard responses when one of my friend's call is either "Oh Herro" (like Kim Jong Il in "Team America") or "Flight Deck".
My voicemail (which gets me made fun of quite often) is "Yankee Stadium, First Base...." followed by me stating my name so people know its actually me, haha.
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