"McMahon,Brian D" <MCMAHON%GRIN1.BITNET@cunyvm.cuny.edu> (08/21/90)
Danial Hamilton <motcid!hamilton@uunet.uu.net> writes: >contact!ndallen@uunet.uu.net (Nigel Allen) writes: >>I think Alexander Graham Bell once proposed "hoy-hoy" as the >>appropriate way to answer the phone. >I believe the Japanese have a greeting that is reserved for use on the >telephone. Something like "moshi moshi". In Germany, there is a special formula for terminating a phone conversation. The usual "auf Wiedersehen" (meaning approximately, "until we see each other again") makes no sense over the phone, and German is a very precise language, so the correct way to say good-bye becomes "auf Wiederh<o">ren," or "until we HEAR each other again." Brian McMahon <MCMAHON@GRIN1.BITNET> Grinnell College Computer Services Grinnell, Iowa 50112 (515) 269-4901