Why a 'hello' and not something else?

Normally yes we use it, but in my country it's ver common to use "salaam alaikum" between moslem, the meaning is "peace be upon you" that is how our religion teach us to give a pray every meet our brother and sister in Islam. But, if we meet the other we just say "alaikum" or "yes you too as well" if nonmuslim say it to us. Hoho, nice discussion. :D

Well it is not hello but hi which is more popular. This is for friends but for relative I say namaste, which is in hindi and to my muslim friends I say aslam-walequm, and with my punjabi friends I say satsriakal. So you see variety is there to use. Yes for my tamil friends it is vanakam.

Hello is better than" what do you want."Ha Ha.

We find it so easy to say "hello" it's a too short cutie word that even a child can do answering the phone. In some companies, however, they have to say their identification, say the phone rings they have to mention the company name followed by greeting of a good morning or afternoon. Example "Global Communications, Good Morning" While in some offices or in residentials just a simple "Hello" will do. Mentioning the company name especially if quite long is quite time consuming but seems to be formal. So "hello" is the simplest word that everyone can understand. A positive word for greeting or for communicating even to those who don't know how to speak English, they may say "HELLO" as well to respond or if personally just vow their heads to acknowledge your greetings.

Hi rajib..I dont always answer my phone with hello...lol Sometimes I say, "Sandys summer home...sum mer home, sum mer not! Or how about...House of Lords, God speaking! Or, Its your dime, start talking! OK, I guess hello is just a universal word. It is funny when you call somewhere and although they answer with a perfect hello, they do not speak english.

Interesting discussion. Glad to hear other countries are taking on our culture although I figured it would be Spanish. My son watches so much Dora he now says hola to everyone. We find it amusing and annoying because he is autistic so he doesn't speak much. Then when he does say something correctly it is Spanish. I keep saying hello but it doesn't help. It has now turned into a game. I guess I will let him answer the phone now.

Well hello there, i thought the Japanese or Chinese language is suppose to be the in thing these days? But hay what can u say except "Ga_day". I recon its "hello (your name) speaking", is what everyone is saying these days no mater what language it is.Cant argue about that one krajibg ,you definitely got me on that one .

I have no idea! But I've thought about it and a couple of years ago I began answering my phone with "Hello!" instead of making it a question like most people do, "Hello?". I have caller id and if I know the caller I'll greet them with their name.

I have not seen one of my uncles saying a "hello", whenever he picks the phone, he says, "sai ram" and it goes on many times before he ends up....my hubby is just the opposite, in a single conversion, he uses "hello" at least 6-8 times, if its a short one, i normally, dont use "hello" much accept at the starting, i used to call their names or with the relationship names whenever a "hello" is required

i know most who answered the phone say "hello" but in germany we dont answer "hello " to the phone.if we answer the phone we say our family name .like Schmidt

it is a means of introduction to an open line of communication. The answer is simply that it is the socially acceptable means of greeting other people. it's a polite way to say or greet someone i suppose.

Hi! Seems this word was used even before telephone was invented.Wonder why it has become such a common way of answering phone.

I am an "American" so I think in English and have to translate to other languages and sometimes my brain gets stuck, lol. When I look at the call ID on my mobile phone and see it is someone for whom English is a second language I may greet them in their language if I know what to say (and if my bain is working and not otherwise distracted). If it is a friend I might say good morning, or something silly or just say "hi Jane, what's up?" I have often wondered at the word hello and where it came from and just what exactly is means. If I am answering the phone at a place of business I might say good morning or just announce the name of the business or say the name and ask if I can be of help. It all depends on the script the employer or business owner wants. I have also noticed when watching films made in countries outside of the United States people will not only say hello when answering the phones they will drop other English words in conversation where I assume no word exists for that thing or where the English word has become common place. It is the same sometimes when listening to music. By the way, the French say "allo?" Some Spanish speakers say "Si?" ( I sometimes say ye-es? dragging out the word and giving it an extra syllable.)

hello is the word that kicks off a conversation on phone. while conversing through phone one is not sure whether the caller at the other end is ready for the conversation or not. when one says 'hello' the other responds to it by a 'hello' and then they are prepared to start talking. why hello..? probably one is trained to use this word. we learn from others and because others say hello we also say so. hello is word that is also used as a greeting, to show respect to the caller. many a times there are situations when we actually don't wish to greet the caller at the other end, but still we use the word 'hello' because we are conditioned to do so. there are people who use other methods to start a conversation. they use their first name or surname, some say 'yes' and yet others greet their callers by words like 'jai mata di' or 'jai shri krishna' etc.

right,we usually will say hello,when the call comes. as we see,we could use our own language to .in china,we could say,??!or ??

I guess I don't understand what the mystery is. 'Hello' is the universal way of greeting one an other. it is easy, short and all seems to know what it is and how to utilize it. Why would you hate the english language? It is a melting pot of many languages. The more uniform and easy the more used words can be the easier it is to understand and communicate with one another no matter where we are.

Hello my friend krajibg Ji, It is very much interesting, I always make use of this word, whenever I relate myself with anyone of you. But more than 800 languages use as greetings . For more : http://www.elite.net/~runner/jennifers/hello.htm There is history behind its first use of 'hello'. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hello#First_use [b]First use Many stories date the first use of hello (with that spelling) to around the time of the invention of the telephone in 1876. It was, however, used in print in Roughing It by Mark Twain in 1872 (written between 1870 and 1871),[2] so its first use must have predated the telephone: A miner came out and said: 'Hello!' Earlier uses can be found back to 1849[3] and 1846: We meet the boys here, and it is "Hello, George," or "Hello, Jim." We slap the judge of the Supreme Court on the back with a "Hello, Joe, how are you?"[4] —Charles Edwards Lester It was listed in dictionaries by 1883.[1] The word was extensively used in literature by the 1860s"[/b] May God bless you and have great time.

hey krajibg In my country, English had always been our second language. It is also the medium language in all schools. But we still use our language although mostly incorporated with English. But going back to the issue, I've heard people here using "hello" in answering every call ever since I can recognize words lol... I can even remember my mom answering their housephone with a "hello" when I was 3 years old. But for me the main reason why people use hello is that it rolls over the tongue so easily and over the phone it still sounds pleasant even if it is spoken in an abrupt way. Well, that's just my theory because even of you're so sleepy or awakened abruptly by a call, the word easily slips out of your lips.

Come to think of it, it does sound kind of weird. May be people are watching English movie so often that they tend to imitate. And since English is the world language, it is not surprising that the use of 'hello' is everywhere.

Hello!...I'm new in here..i think the word hello is used as sign of respect for Tomas Edison!