Meaning and Origin of Hello: Is This About the "Love" of Graham Bell?

23/4/2016

Today I got a message on WhatsApp that claimed to define "Love" in its own way. First have a look at this message in the form of image (given below as received):

It says that the first word spoken by Graham Bell after his invention of telephone was "Hello" and gives all credits to his girlfriend 'Margaret Hello'.

Generally, most of us forward/share what we receive on whatever social networking sites without thinking "How true is this?"

How True Is This?
If you do some research, you will find that the first words successfully spoken by Bell on telephone are commonly said to be, "Mr. Watson, Come here, I want to see you", and March 10, 1876 is said to be the date when telephone was invented.

Interestingly, if you search about the lady called Margaret Hello, there is no authentic source of information claiming her relationship with Alexander Graham Bell at the time of invention of telephone.

In fact during this time, Bell was attracted to a girl who was only seventeen at that time and was his pupil. This girl later came to be known as the wife of Graham Bell. Her name was Mabel Hubbard.

Source: Unaware: Shared by a friend on WhatsApp

Mabel Hubbard became deaf at the age of five and despite that Graham Bell had fallen in love with her. Not only did he marry her, but also maintained this relationship till the end of his life. Had this story been narrated as "Love" by the original sharer, that might have seemed more acceptable.

In fact, it is said that the word "Hello" was not the first choice of Bell. He preferred "Ahoy". Hello is supposed to have been made popular by Thomas Edison.

Who is this lady in the photograph?
The photograph shown above is a classic one. If you search on Internet you can easily find this photograph at www.pc.gc.ca. The title to this photograph at that website is Photo of Alexander Graham Bell et Mabel Hubbard. So, it can be easily said that this lady is not Margaret Hello. This is the wife of Alexander Graham Bell i.e. Mabel Hubbard.

I was not able to find a dedicated page on Margaret Hello and her life history.

Moral of the story is, "Not everything shared on social networking sites is True".

Reference:
Bell: Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of Solitude By Robert V. Bruce
http://www.britannica.com/biography/Mabel-Hubbard-Bell
http://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/05/garden/great-hello-mystery-is-solved.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invention_of_the_telephone
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Graham_Bell#Telephone
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hello

Comments

Author - Archit

लाभस्तेषां जयस्तेषां कुतस्तेषां पराजयः I येषामिन्दीवरश्यामो हृदयस्थो जनार्दनः II

ज्योतिष के विषय से मैंने इस वेबसाइट पर लिखना शुरू किया था परंतु ज्योतिष, धर्म और समाज को अलग अलग कर के देख पाना बड़ा कठिन है. शनैः शनैः मेरी यह धारणा प्रबल होती जा रही है कि जो भी संसार में हो चुका है, हो रहा है अथवा होने वाला है वह सब ईश्वर के ही अधीन है अथवा पूर्वनियोजित है. लिखना तो मुझे बाल्यकाल से ही बहुत पसंद था परंतु कभी गंभीरता से नहीं लिया. कविताएं लिखी, कहानियां लिखी, निबंध लिखे परंतु शायद ही कभी प्रकाशन के लिए भेजा. मेरी कविताएं और निबंध (जिनका संकलन आज न जाने कहाँ हैं) जिसने भी देखे, प्रशंसा ही की. यह सब ईश्वर की कृपा ही थी. धार्मिक क्षेत्र में मेरी रुचि सदा से ही रही है परंतु पुत्र होने के बाद थोड़ा रुझान अधिक हुआ है. ना जाने कब ईश्वर ने प्रेरणा दी और मैंने इस पर लिखना शुरू कर दिया.

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