The technology controls how we greet – New Technology

     Switchboard attendants used the greeting “Hello”. Photo: TT / The Press photo
     

COLUMN. From the greeting as the phone’s author advocated til incomprehensible youth sms. So has almost 140 years of telephone history influenced our language.

In 1876, searched Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone, which was strictly speaking was not alone inventing. 139 years later, ask a friend if I know what “VGD” means when a youth write it in a text message. I take a chance on the “Please wait”. It is wrong.

The device that let us talk to others in real time, quickly became widespread, and affected the very way we communicate. In his excellent book “Hello! If the phone the first time in Sweden “describes January Garnert how telephony foray changed our language.

In a telephone handbook from 1885, for example, the phrase “hello” (though spelled “Halloh!”) that the operator responds when someone reached the switch to be switched on. Whoever then connected to could also respond with the same phrase. The very word “Hello” is as Garnert coated late old, though that were previously used to attract anyone’s attention.

Graham Bell advocated moreover, the greeting “Ahoy-hoy” for telephone calls. In the animated series “The Simpsons” is the expression of the Ancient of nuclear boss Mr. Burns, when he answers in his equally ancient lookout.

The phenomenon that the word we answer the phones different from what we would say when we meet in reality in several places. The Japanese “Moshi Moshi” is used only over the phone, just like kinesiskans “Wei”. It is also the word that marks the end of the telecom company Huawei’s name – a little rough translated as something like “China hello”.

But technology changes. For more than 20 years ago, mobile phones’ broad impact. With them were each given their own caller ID and right as it is, you could hear people respond with “Hi, Mom” ​​- gone was the need to introduce themselves. (And the telephone exchange had been taken out service since a long time.)

Mobile Phones also meant the ability to send SMS messages. The very first was: “Merry Christmas” and was sent over the Vodafone GSM network in 1992. Within a few years, was also the technique spread to every pocket – in particular in Sweden who were early.

Precis as when the phone call had their own greetings and expressions received an SMS sent to their own written language of abbreviations and smiley faces built by punctuation.

Den mutated version of Bell’s patent that now the majority of people carrying around in your pocket is well now mostly a mini computer, but in a way also a throwback to the old time telegraph to send short text messages. And just as the telegraph time use abbreviations to save time and space.

Therefore “VGD”, instead of the lengthy “What are you doing?”. The question is how we will greet each other when direct contact via hologram becomes possible.

Self I want strike a blow for “Ahoy-hoy”.