Early Telephone Etiquette

It is unfathomable in this day and time to imagine life without our phones. How quickly society adapted to this technological device, and even though it seems like mobile phones have been around forever, the first cell phone call ever made was in less than fifty years ago. (April 3rd, 1973 for those trivia buffs out there) But before mobile phones we had land-line phones. Less than one hundred years ago only thirty-five percent of houses in the United States had a phone. That number would stay at less than eighty percent until the early 1970's. To recap, less than fifty years ago, twenty percent of all households in the United States did not have a phone.

In the early development of the telephone there arose a disagreement between Alexander Bell and Thomas Edison on the proper etiquette when answering the phone. Alexander Bell used "Ahoy", which derives from the Dutch greeting, "Hoi". Thomas Edison on the other hand preferred to use the word, "Hello". "Hello" won out when the District Telephone Company in New Haven, Connecticut endorsed Thomas Edison's greeting over Alexander Bell's.


Did you know that it was an common occurrence to list your phone number after you answered the phone? It was a great way to quickly discern if the wrong number had been dialed. In the early days of the telephone it was also considered in good taste to say the following, "I'm sorry, but I have to stop now. Thank you for calling." This was not considered to be rude even if you cut someone off in mid-sentence. The phone conversation was not considered a priority over day-to-day tasks that were being interrupted by the phone call. 

There was a also a strict rule forbidding non-emergency calls before 9:00 am and after 9:00 pm. Another example of a time gone by was the imposing of fines on anyone caught swearing on the phone. In fact, in the United Arab Emirates, this is still the case today. 

Here are some more facts from an digitized version of a 1950's etiquette guide produced by Bell Systems for businesses. The booklet says that you are to apologize when you've received a call from a wrong number. ("It will reflect credit on you to be pleasant when someone calls you by mistake" - Bell Systems / Hagley Library) Another tip was to picture the person you are talking to, rather than talking to the phone, you are talking to a person on the other side of the phone. (This makes sense when you realize many people had never used a phone before encountering it at their place of business)  Ending the call gracefully was urged as well as softly replacing the phone as to avoid a loud noise for the person on the other side. Answering the phone quickly was considered polite as well, as to avoid possibly missing an important call.

Last, was the importance of letting everyone in your business know if you were not going to be able to answer your phone. This took a lot of training as people were used to moving at their own rhythms without being tethered to an communication device. I think we can safely say this particular advice is no longer needed for most of us today.