Hi, a really uninteresting update to yesterday's post.
Reading the post and comments, i felt moved to inform everyone (poster and commenter alike) that the word "hello" is, in fact, an Americanism. Hullo, Hallo, Hola and other such greetings have been around for longer than i care, but "hello" was most definitely American, and popularised by the great Thomas Edison, who shunned Alexander Graham Bell's insistence that everyone should say "ahoy" when they answer the phone (NB he stole the invention anyway so who cares what he thinks).
With the growing network of telephone communication (tele - far, phone - sound, communicate - to make information communal... so you know) "hello" spread and kicked ahoy's arse.
Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage states in 1926:
"Hello, formerly an Americanism, is now nearly as common as hullo in Britain ... and the Englishman cannot be expected to give up the right to say hello if he likes it better than his native hullo."
So... we have the Americans to thank for hello. But also for Britney Spears, so i don't know what to think.
Reading the post and comments, i felt moved to inform everyone (poster and commenter alike) that the word "hello" is, in fact, an Americanism. Hullo, Hallo, Hola and other such greetings have been around for longer than i care, but "hello" was most definitely American, and popularised by the great Thomas Edison, who shunned Alexander Graham Bell's insistence that everyone should say "ahoy" when they answer the phone (NB he stole the invention anyway so who cares what he thinks).
With the growing network of telephone communication (tele - far, phone - sound, communicate - to make information communal... so you know) "hello" spread and kicked ahoy's arse.
Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage states in 1926:
"Hello, formerly an Americanism, is now nearly as common as hullo in Britain ... and the Englishman cannot be expected to give up the right to say hello if he likes it better than his native hullo."
So... we have the Americans to thank for hello. But also for Britney Spears, so i don't know what to think.
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