Whom am I speaking to?
A simple observation about communication:
When introducing ourselves in person, we tend to use the phrase “My name is ________” or “I’m __________”.
When introducing ourselves on the phone, we tend to opt for “This is ________” or “__________ here”.
Why the change?
How do you answer the phone?
How do you introduce yourself in person?
“whom and I speaking to?”
But then, you are doing the speaking so this may be moot.
Thanks AM, correction noted!
Were ‘This is _________’ and ‘________ speaking’ some of the original greetings on telephones? Cause if so, perhaps they are different because using a telephone was so revolutionarily different when they first came out?
K –
I don’t know if those were the original greetings, but if so, it would beg the question, ‘why?’ even more so, since there would have been no precedent for that phrase.