\"Writing.Com
*Magnify*
◄     November     ►
SMTWTFS
     
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
Archive RSS
SPONSORED LINKS
BY ONLINE AUTHORS
Printed from https://writing.com/main/books/action/view/entry_id/902480
Item Icon
\"Reading Printer Friendly Page Tell A Friend
(4)
Rated: E · Book · Educational · #2105953
One hundred facts that are interesting but ultimately useless.
<<< Previous · Entry List · Next >>>
#902480 added January 17, 2017 at 5:09pm
Restrictions: None
"Hello" & "Goodbye"
"Hello" & "Goodbye"
- etymology -

​​The word "hello" is thought to derive from an Old Saxon/High German word "halon" ("to fetch" or "to hail"), which itself may come from the Old French word "holà" (roughly "whoa there").

The widespread use of "hello" to answer a telephone is occasionally attributed to the device's inventor, Alexander Graham Bell; a popular story recounts how one of the first ever phonecalls was made to the inventor's girlfriend, Margaret Hello. However, since Graham Bell was engaged to a Mabel Hubbard at the time, this is little more than a myth. The actual association of telephones and hello is credited to Thomas Edison.

"Goodbye" is simply a contraction of a variation on the phrase "God be with you".


#017
2 *Thumbsupl*  Like • Comment

© Copyright 2017 BD Mitchell (UN: anigh at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
BD Mitchell has granted Writing.Com, its affiliates and its syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work.
<<< Previous · Entry List · Next >>>
Printed from https://writing.com/main/books/action/view/entry_id/902480