Moshi moshi, or ????, is a common Japanese phrase that Japanese people use when picking up the phone. It's a casual greeting used for friends and family, like a “hello”, but in fact means something entirely different! In English, it literally means something more like, “to say to say”, or “I speak I speak”.

"Moshi Moshi" (もしもし) is a ubiquitous Japanese telephone greeting used similarly to "hello" in English. It originates from the humble verb mousu (申す), which means "to say" or "to speak" in a respectful, polite form. Historically, it was used by people of lower status to catch the attention of those in higher positions, essentially meaning "I am going to speak now." The phrase was doubled into "Moshi Moshi" during the early days of Japanese telecommunications in the 1890s to ensure the person on the other end could hear the speaker through the static and poor audio quality of early telephone lines. While it is standard for answering the phone among friends and family, it is considered slightly too casual for formal business calls, where "Hai" (Yes) followed by the company name is preferred. An interesting cultural urban legend suggests that ghosts and spirits cannot say "Moshi Moshi" twice, so repeating it became a way to verify that the person on the other end was a living human and not a supernatural entity.