Ahoy!

Saying “ahoy” was at one time the preferred way to answer the phone. The very brief popularity of this telephone greeting stemmed from the fact that “ahoy” was Alexander Graham Bell’s preferred way to answer the phone. The term ahoy was generally associated as a nautical term used for hailing ships. The dictionary says it was Thomas Edison who put hello into common usage. He urged people to instead say "hello" when answering. Because “hello” quickly usurped “ahoy”, by 1889 telephone operators became known as “hello-girls”.