Not only have I now learned the origin of “ahoy”, I have also learned this interesting little tidbit about the way we answer the phone:
“Alexander Graham Bell suggested “ahoy!” as the standard telephone greeting, but it didn’t catch on–for obvious reasons, you may think. Don’t be so sure. Brooklyn College professor Allen Koenigsberg, author of The Patent History of the Phonograph, argues that the word that did catch on, “hello,” was previously unknown and may have been invented by the man who proposed it, Thomas Edison.”
Well now, isn’t that interesting! [via Erik who is not only hip, he’s smart too!]