Just as the ducks at the park are free, there is also no legal requirement to answer the phone in particular way. Hit folks with a, "Ahoyhoy", "Howdy", "Whats good brother?", or for the more adventurous, "Ralphs Roadkill Cafe. You kill it, we grill it."
"Dave's pizza and abortion clinic, your loss is our sauce" is a particularly spicy one I've heard.
In my family it was variations of "Hello, Joe's whatever. Insert rhyme here."
One of my favorites was "Joe's mortuary, you stab 'em we slab 'em."
My dad's go to is "Joe's Bar and Grill, this is Grill speaking". Sometimes he'll shake it up and answer as Bar instead
"Jimbo's Fish Fry; you hook 'em we cook 'em!"
Was always my favorite. Probably because I would love to take a restaurant a bucket of fresh-caught bluegill and come back in a couple hours to dinner. Filleting all those little bastards is a pain...
Mine is somewhere between yellow and howdy. If you call a Texas Drunk you should be prepared for a "Yeowdy".
I like the explanation that devious spirits cannot say this phrase and that's why it's used. Apparently it's also just a casual way of saying "I'm ready to talk" and was used by early telephone operators in Japan. It's most likely people just ended up copying the phrase from operators and aren't worried about being tricked by foxes.
I like the explanation that devious spirits cannot say this phrase and that’s why it’s used
Evil spirits can not say the same word twice in a row. Foxes can not say "moshi". With "moshi moshi" you get a 2-for-1 special.
Japanese people answer their phone like that, everything is fine.
I answer my phone like that, I'm branded a weaboo for the rest of my life.
I love the fact that Burns answers the phone this way. Subtle jokes like this are the reason why The Simpsons is infinitely rewatchable.
Edison was apparently quite successful, to the point where some languages other than English have a word that sounds like "hello" (for example, Russian "allo") which is used only when answering the phone.
That makes sense cause in Brazil we say "alô" when answering the phone, a word that only seems to exist for this single purpose.
I've always been curious how people greeted each other before "hello". Did we just say "good day" and variations thereof?
Well, Howdy is a contraction of "How do you do?", hence the somewhat rarer "Howdy do!", and Goodbye is a contraction of "God Be With You!"
I didn't know that about 'goodbye'! Words are fascinating, huh.
I believe "hello" itself was more of an exclamation (like "hi", in fact) and supposedly comes from the Dutch "hollo". Some people in the UK still use it as such, in fact.
Adios and adieu also both refer to god; I’m sure other Romance languages say goodbye similarly but I don’t know Italian or Romanian or whatever
So apparently the new shit spam evil calls can record the most minimal sample of your voice and then spoof it to your friends and family…
It almost seems worth saying nothing until ‘they’ say something, but then, what if they are a spoofed caller…
Oh shit. Just don’t use phones any more.
If you don't recognize the number, answer in a funny accent. That's how you defeat the voice harvesters.
ring ring Sombrero repair, como es?
ring ring [deep voice] Investigations.
ring ring HJECKIN?
ring ring [high pitched voice] OOIIO BO IMA SO GLAD YE RANG DOLLINGA
ring ring thinkyefurcullinpapajhonzzewoodyalacktatryourpapalopadoussoosageasperigusdoughdopoloostoday?
ring ring [monkey noises]
ring ring OOOOOHHHHHHHH COME ON EILEEN, I BEG OF YA PLEASE
ring ring [raspy voice] Jerome?
ring ring [dictation voice, right up against microphone] THANK YOU FOR FALLING KMART. PLEASE LET US KNOW WHAT YOU ARE CALLING ABOUT SO WE MAY DIRECT YOUR CALL
ring ring [moaning so intense it would make Sarah Grey blush]
ring ring WEAR MAH CHIL' SUPPORT AT JEROME
ring ring [play Gilbert Garfield directly into microphone]
Unless I am expecting a call, such as a delivery I just dont answer phone calls, if it's important they will call again, if it's less important they can message me like a normal human being.
I had a friend try to use AI to mimic my voice and make me say some goofy stuff and it sounded nothing like me, so I think I've lucked out on that front
It has been a while though, and it's possible the technology has progressed to be able to clone my uncloneable voice
!I was tempted to say chat member but I hate advertising or talking about that at all, so enjoy this spoiler explaining something that didn't need explaining!<
I mostly don't ever answer calls I don't recognize, and even the ones I do I don't often answer if I'm at work etc. I've only answered calls when it's for something important being delivered, fixed, or scheduled (recent examples in same order: TV, Internet, renting a place(less recent, but all I could think of)).
Had to look it up, and the story is actually really interesting. Heres a great article from NPR
https://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2011/02/17/133785829/a-shockingly-short-history-of-hello
Ahoy, guys.
Be the change you want to see in this world, don't let Thomas Edison continue to shit on everything from his grave.
my go-to when im forced to answer unknown callers is "who is this?". then i disconnect if they dont answer my question
To me it sounds like OP's opener is exactly for people who aren't contacts saved in his phone. It sounds perfect to me
20 years ago, yes
These days, the only people who call me are creditors (who aren't supposed to) and scammers
If you just add "hi' to the beginning then it's a perfect middle. "Hello, who is this?" Nothing is better than letting it go to voicemail, but sometimes you're in a situation where you might be expecting a call from an unknown number
Imagine Edison trying to patent the "hello" greeting to get royalties every time someone answered the phone.
Then the incel fanbois defending Edison, insisting he invented the term 'hello".
At this point I think there are more incel fanbois overhyping Tesla, still believing he really did have perpetual energy death rays invented by Ancient Egyptian aliens
Dude was brilliant, but he was also very, very crazy... and a name that comes up a lot when I'm on the "Spirit Science and Ancient Aliens are perfectly valid methods of self-education in comparison." side of Youtube
Not that I'm defending Edison mind you, every cent he ever gained was earned by Tesla.
Then say "yes?*"
*This is a question asking what you are calling for and does not create joinder.
Only if you speak it at a 45-degree angle in red. If you buy my audio book I'll explain how to do this.
Yeah because he wanted to make Teslas ac electricity look evil, but just made everyone there hate him.
Is it just to swedes "pronto" sounds like it would mean "hurry up"? Or is that everyone?
Ive always heard it to mean "hurry up" or "be quick" too.
... I am 1/4 swedish though so I dunno?
In Italian it just means "ready", but in English is used in a completely different way. Probably Sweden got the usage from English
Vad har det med Sverige att göra? As a Spanish speaker, that's just one its meanings in Spanish.
Oh, maybe thats where I'm getting it from then. I know other swedes who have reacted that way to hearing an italian answering the phone.