In the English speaking world, if you answer the phone with this, you may be as ancient as Homer‘s boss. Significant to its history, who preferred this phone salutation?

queproblema

I don't know who Homer's boss is or how ancient he may be, but I do know Thomas Edison promoted the use of the salutation, "Hello," when answering the telephone. http://www.tecsoc.org/pubs/history/2002/aug15.htm Dec 27 08, 7:32 PM

Boycie75

Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, initially used Ahoy-hoy (as used on ships) as a telephone greeting. Homer Simpson's boss C. Montgomery Burns used the same form of greeting when answering his phone. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hello#Telephone Dec 27 08, 7:34 PM

zbeckabee

It is all a far cry from Alexander Graham Bell, who first answered the telephone after inventing it in 1876 with the then-common ship radio greeting "Ahoy-hoy". It was swiftly replaced by hello which was championed by Thomas Edison. Fans of The Simpsons, however, may have noticed that Homer's boss, Mr Burns, says Ahoy-hoy in reference to the original telephone greeting. The study was commissioned by Post Office Telecoms to mark this week's 130th anniversary of the telephone in the UK. http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.2338730.0.yo_is_the_new_hello_in_telephone_greetings.php Dec 27 08, 7:51 PM

edmund80

Excellent! Ahoy-hoy was Alexander Graham Bell's preferred phone greeting, the same as the crusty Monty Burns. http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ahoy-hoy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montgomery_Burns Dec 28 08, 12:15 AM