Hello or Ahoy?
"Halloo!" "Hello" and Edison
By Doug Boilesen 2020 (with special thanks to Allen Koenigsberg)
The telephone and the invention of the phonograph have a very close relationship (See PBS American Experience's Edison: From the Telephone and the Telegraph Comes the Phonograph).
But how does answering a phone with "hello" have anything to do with the Phonograph?
It turns out that Edison shouted "Halloo!" in the process of discovering the principle of recorded sound in July 1877 and a month later (August 15, 1877), when telephones were getting ready to be introduced into Pittsburgh, Edison suggested using "Hello" to let the other party on the telephone line know that someone was ready to speak.
The origin of "hello" for the answering the telephone
Here are the details discovered by my favorite phonograph sleuth Allen Koenigsberg who investigated the origin of 'hello" and the telephone. Allen first published his findings in his Antique Phonograph Monthly Issue No. 76 in 1987 and also included a copy of the letter he discovered, never before published, which documents Edison's suggestion to "Friend David."
"I do not think we need a call bell as "Hello!" can be heard 10 to 20 feet way. What do you think?" Edison.
Courtesy of APM and AT&T Historical Archives
The following is an extract from the New York Times March 5,1992 about Koenigsberg's discovery in an article by William Grimes titled "The Great 'Hello' Mystery is Solved."
Resolved to sort out the "hello" mystery, Mr. Koenigsberg embarked on a tortuous search five years ago that led him, finally and triumphantly, to the American Telephone and Telegraph Company Archives in lower Manhattan, where he found an unpublished letter by Edison. Dated Aug. 15, 1877, it is addressed to one T.B.A. David, president of the Central District and Printing Telegraph Company in Pittsburgh. Mr. David was preparing to introduce the telephone to that city.At the time, Edison envisioned the telephone as a business device only, with a permanently open line to parties at either end. This setup raised a problem: How would anyone know that the other party wanted to speak? Edison addressed the issue as follows: Friend David, I don't think we shall need a call bell as Hello! can be heard 10 to 20 feet away. What do you think? EDISON
It was a word of destiny. Over at the laboratories of Edison's rival, Bell was insisting on "Ahoy!" as the correct way to answer the telephone. It was trounced by "hello," which became the standard as the first telephone exchanges, equipped by Edison, were set up across the United States and operating manuals adopted the word. The first public exchange, opened in New Haven on Jan. 28, 1878, wavered between "hello" and the fusty "What is wanted?" in its manual. By 1880, "hello" had won out.
Postcard 1909
"Hello! Are you there?" Postcard 1911
For more examples of "Hello" for the Telephone Postcards see "Hello" Postcards.
Koenigsberg's research "enters the area of educated guesswork when it comes to settling the question of why Edison used "hello" in the first place."
When Edison discovered the principle of recorded sound on July 18, 1877, he shouted "Halloo!" into the mouthpiece of the strip phonograph. The word was the traditional call to incite hounds to the chase, and is a close relative of such words as hilla, hillo, halloa and hallo, all used to hail from a distance.
The British "hullo," which dates from the mid-19th century, is deceptive. It was used not as a greeting but as an expression of surprise, as in "Hullo, what have we here?"
It seems likely that Edison, satisfied with the resonant halloo, continued to use it in his experiments, at some point compressing the pronunciation and modifying the spelling, never his strong suit, in any case.
Mr. Koenigsberg said he would still like to know what exactly was going through Edison's mind at the moment of creation. For satisfaction, he will have to turn to one of the first songs to use the Edisonian greeting, "Hello, Central. Give Me Heaven."
Hello Central Give Me Heaven, Chas. K. Harris, New York 1901
Courtesy Lester S. Levy Sheet Music Collection, Johns Hopkins
For more examples of Telephone and Hello Sheet Music see "Hello" Sheet Music.
In a 2021 correspondence, Koenigsberg provided more history and thoughts about "Hello" and Edison with the bottom line still that Bell's fight for "Ahoy" was a losing battle, with "Hello" the victor in the USA.(3)
Despite the clear Edison 'hello" triumph, however, I think Bell's 'Ahoy' as a telephone greeting should still be remembered. And it did get a new lease on life when Mr. Burns of The Simpsons started answering his phone "Ahoy-hoy."
My suggestion?
Answer the phone "Ahoy" or "Ahoy-hoy" from time to time.
At the very least, use an "Ahoy" each March 3 on Alexander Graham Bell's birthday. You can always explain its significance and in the process add an educational aspect to your call.
"Ahoy-hoy"
Frontispiece facing Title-page of St. Nicholas Volume VII Part II, May to November, 1880
