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Ahoy!


Ahoy, a signal word originally used to call a ship, was once a standard way to greet others and was Alexander Graham Bell's suggested greeting for answering the telephone.


The origins of 'Ahoy'

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Ahoy(link takes you to an external page) is a signal word used to call to a ship or boat. The word stems from the Middle English cry "Hoy!", a greeting derived from the Dutch "Hoi".

Seafarers used the word 'ahoy' in song well before the word's first recorded use in print. The term was first referenced as a new nautical term in the 1751 novel The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle(link takes you to an external page) by Tobias Smollett. In its early usage, 'ahoy' was used as both an exclamation and a way to get someone's attention. By 1813, 'ahoy' was a widely used word in the English language, and the first half of the 19th Century brought the term (or a close variant) to neighboring languages. 'Ahoy' soon became a popular greeting outside of nautical situations.

While 'ahoy' fell out of the popular English lexicon for a time, the word later rose from obscurity as the sport of sailing grew in popularity. 'Ahoy' can still be heard used as a greeting, a warning, or to say farewell.


A brief history of 'Hello'

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While 'hello' is the standard English language greeting today, the word has only been around since 1827. In its early days, 'hello' was used to attract attention or express surprise, as in, "Well, hello, what have we here?"

'Hello' didn't become the standard greeting as we know it today until the arrival of the telephone. Thomas Edison(link takes you to an external page) urged people to say 'hello' when answering his phone.


"Ahoy-hoy," the original telephone greeting

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Alexander Graham Bell(link takes you to an external page), the Scottish-born innovator credited with patenting the first commercial telephone, originally suggested 'Ahoy-hoy' as the standard greeting when answering the telephone. 'Ahoy' had been around at least 100 years longer than 'hello', and its nautical origins along with common usage as a greeting made it a strong candidate.

The de facto telephone greeting we know and use today was solidified after the first telephone books sanctioned 'hello' as the official greeting in their authoritative How To... sections. 'Hello' quickly eclipsed 'ahoy', but Bell insisted upon answering the phone with 'ahoy' for the rest of his life.

In pop culture, The Simpsons' Mr. Burns also answers the telephone as Mr. Bell intended:


Say "Ahoy, World" with Twilio

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'Ahoy, world' is just a few lines of code away. Learn how to greet people in whatever language you speak (and code) with Twilio's Programmable SMS and Programmable Voice quickstarts.


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