# Answering the phone

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/answering-the-phone/1012261>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [December 28, 2024, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/answering-the-phone/1012261 "2024-12-28T14:17:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 71

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**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\
**Post date:** [December 30, 2024, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/answering-the-phone/1012261/71 "2024-12-30T23:50:07Z")

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> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#):
>
> Has anyone here adopted the gruff “Talk to me” from The Fugitive, when the one-armed guy answers the phone? “Ahoy” died in birth, and “Hello” has had a good run. Time for a change.

What I think is an interesting bit of history is being hinted at here. When the telephone was first invented, there was no standard for how one should answer the telephone. Ahoy was Alexander Graham Bell’s suggestion, while Thomas Edison thought hello was better.

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