[Lee Stewart]

When the public started using the phone back in the 1800s, inventor Alexander Graham Bell thought they should answer a call with “ahoy.” That’s likely why the incredibly elderly Mr. Burns on The Simpsons says “Ahoy-hoy” when he picks up the phone. However, Bell’s rival, Thomas Edison, wanted users to answer the phone with “Hello.” And, according to The New York Times, by 1880, ‘Hello’ had won out.