Good Lifestyle

Hi! There is a good chance that you have used this word at least once today. You probably told your neighbor in the elevator, at Barista before ordering, or maybe your colleagues when you entered work. There is a reason why "hello" is the first word you learn when studying a new language: with it, you can introduce yourself, get someone's attention and report that you are friendly .

Despite the popularity of the word, however, you probably do not know where "hello". Has he always been a greeting? Another word is it used in its place before? Who even came with that - and why?

Well, if you have already been curious about the origin of "hello", we have answers for you. It could come as a little surprise considering the amount of people use it every day, but the word "hello" aonly for about 150 years. The first recording of the word goes back to the 1800s, when it was used less like a greeting and more like an expression of surprise.

But what did people say before the 1800s greet? A common word People used the way of the Middle Ages through Shakespeare's time was "Hail". He has brought a rather benevolent shade because she was related to words like "health" and "whole". We may not use it as a greeting in the 21st century, but we always use a variant of itIn our daily language: "bawl. "

The widespread use of "Hello" as a greeting is thanks toThomas Edison. AfterAlexander Graham Bell Invented the phone in the late 1800s, people needed a way to answer the new device, and Edison took it on itself to find a greeting. When he did,The New York Times Recalls that he wrote an enthusiastic letter to a friend appointed Mr. David on August 15, 1877, explaining his solution.

"Friend David," writes Edison ", I do not think we will need a call bell like hello! Can be heard at 10 to 20 meters. What do you think? Edison."

Graham Bell did not like Edison's idea. He preferred the word "ahoy, "who came from the word of Dutch greeting" Hoi. "(Yes, it was mostly a nautical term at the time. And yet, when the first telephone exchanges equipped with Edison were put in place anywhere in the United States, the operations the textbooks that came with them understood Two greeting options: "Hello" or "What is sought after?" Probably because "What is sought after?" Is long enough, by the 1880s, "Hello" was the common and preferred greeting.

The next time someone asks you about the origin of "hello", you can explain to them that it returns to Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison (and that "Ahoy" has almost finished as the de facto greetings. YIKES).