Do you know why we say 'Hello' as a greeting?
We will give you a hint: it's got nothing to do with Alexander Graham Bell's girlfriend's name...
A video shared on social media allegedly shares the meaning behind the greeting 'Hello', linking it to Alexander Graham Bell's fiancee, Margaret Hello...
According to several online sources, this is false. First, Alexander Graham Bell's wife's name was Mabel Gardiner Hubbard. Second, it has been said that American inventor and businessman Thomas Edison proposed using the word 'Hello' as a greeting, and it stuck.
It seems that 'Hello' is more than just an award-winning song; it holds a great source of history.
"The Oxford English Dictionary says the first published use of 'hello' goes back only to 1827. And it wasn't mainly a greeting back then. Ammon says people in the 1830's said hello to attract attention ('Hello, what do you think you're doing?'), or to express surprise ('Hello, what have we here?'). Hello didn't become 'hi' until the telephone arrived.
"The dictionary says it was Thomas Edison who put hello into common usage. He urged the people who used his phone to say 'hello' when answering. His rival, Alexander Graham Bell, thought the better word was 'ahoy'." (NPR)
It was interesting to note how people interpreted their version of the history behind the word 'Hello'. This speaks to the gullibility of people believing everything they hear or see on social media; fact-checking everything is still necessary.
Watch the video below - courtesy of Instagram:
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