I just learned something that made me laugh so hard, hopefully it will do the same to some.

apparently, when the phone was invented, there was a dispute between Thomas Edison and alexander graham Bell about what should be the appropriate expression to use when answering a phone call. Thomas Edison wanted people to say "hello" while Bell wanted people to say "ahoy". "ahoy" never caught on, obviously, and "hello", which used to convey surprise, became the normal way to greet someone. (this was more or less copied from something I read, I didn't come up with any of this).