Ahoy (greeting)  From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to:
navigation, search Graffiti on a house wall in Bratislava,
Slovak Republic: a sketch of a winking girl, a heart, and the
word 'Ahoj'.  Ahoy (/əˈhɔɪ/) is a signal word used to signal a
ship or boat, stemming from the Middle English cry, 'Hoy!'.[1]
The word had fallen into obsolescence before rising from
obscurity as the sport of sailing rose in popularity. 'Ahoy' can
also be used as a greeting, a warning, or a farewell.  The word
can also be found with similar pronunciation and writing in
several other languages. In Slovak and Czech also, ahoj is a
common, colloquial greeting while 'Hoi' is used in Modern Dutch
as an informal greeting equivalent to English 'hi' or 'hey'.
Alexander Graham Bell originally suggested 'ahoy' be adopted as
the standard greeting when answering a telephone, before 'Hello'
(suggested by Thomas Edison) became common.[2][3]  Early forms
and development[edit]  Piers the Plowman, driving oxen, in a
Psalter from the 14th centu