Very Difficult English Words
bahaistories.com archive · Read original
When in Bahá'í history
London (today: London, UK)

Once a reporter in London inquired about ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s plans—to his astonishment the Master replied in English. The reporter commented on His good pronunciation, whereupon ‘Abdu’l-Bahá “rose up and, pacing the room, uttered a number of complicated English words, such as ‘hippopotamus’, and then laughingly said, ‘Very difficult English words I speak.’”
Source: Annamarie Honnold, Vignettes from the Life of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, p. 174
Collected from bahaistories.com (Subject: universal-language).
Cite this story
Various. *bahaistories.com archive*. https://bahaistories.com/subject/universal-language
Record yourself reading this story
Recording stays on this device only. Nothing is uploaded.
Related stories
Four Travellers and the Grapes
To show the need for one common language, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá told of four hungry travellers who quarrelled over what to buy for supper until a donkey laden with grapes showed that all four wanted the same thing.
Her Highness the Cow
When Howard Colby Ives wrote in 1912 that his Brotherhood Church had closed for lack of funds, 'Abdu'l-Bahá's reply joked about the philosophy of the age and urged him to give his whole life to spreading the teachings.
An Apple and a Pomegranate
In 1912 Lua Getsinger, asked by 'Abdu'l-Bahá to go to California, walked through poison ivy so that she could not travel. He sent her an apple and a pomegranate to cure her, and she went.
Questions at the Golden Links Club
At the Golden Links Club in Boston in July 1912, 'Abdu'l-Bahá said Arabic would not become the universal language and explained how Esperanto could become universal.