# body part (blogs) — RSS Amplifier Recent posts from the 4 feeds in the RSS Amplifier directory that cover body part. Page: Feed: --- ## [geula](http://www.balashon.com/2026/08/geula.html) _2026-08-20 · Balashon · Balashon - Hebrew Language Detective_ When we think of the word גְּאֻלָּה geula - we typically think of a divine redemption or salvation, perhaps with a messianic bent. It could be spiritual or it could be physical, but God is the one doing the redeeming. However, the root גאל - "to redeem" - doesn't have that meaning exclusively. In the Tanakh, we find it frequently referring to redemption by humans: redemption of land, or redemption… ## [geula](http://www.balashon.com/2026/08/geula.html) _2026-08-20 · Balashon · Balashon - Hebrew Language Detective_ When we think of the word גְּאֻלָּה geula - we typically think of a divine redemption or salvation, perhaps with a messianic bent. It could be spiritual or it could be physical, but God is the one doing the redeeming. However, the root גאל - "to redeem" - doesn't have that meaning exclusively. In the Tanakh, we find it frequently referring to redemption by humans: redemption of land, or redemption… ## [invite (noun)](http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2026/08/invite-noun.html) _2026-08-08 · lynneguist · Separated by a Common Language_ Neil W. wrote to ask: I am seeing lots of advertisements for a new film called "The Invite". (Sounds quite promising with Seth Rogen playing his usual character). Here is a review from the notoriously picky Peter Bradshaw, who quite liked it. Within this article he uses the phrase "extend the invitation of the title". So my question: is it an Americanism to use "invite" as a noun? I (Scottish)… ## [derech eretz](http://www.balashon.com/2026/08/derech-eretz.html) _2026-08-03 · Balashon · Balashon - Hebrew Language Detective_ The phrase דֶּרֶךְ אֶרֶץ derekh eretz appears hundreds of times in rabbinic literature. Literally meaning "the way of the world," it has multiple meanings. Generally, they are divided into these three categories: accepted manners, etiquette, and customs work, occupation, livelihood a euphemism for sexual relations Shmuel Safrai in his essay The Term Derekh Ereẕ / מובנו של המונח 'דרך-ארץ' and David… ## [derech eretz](http://www.balashon.com/2026/08/derech-eretz.html) _2026-08-03 · Balashon · Balashon - Hebrew Language Detective_ The phrase דֶּרֶךְ אֶרֶץ derekh eretz appears hundreds of times in rabbinic literature. Literally meaning "the way of the world," it has multiple meanings. Generally, they are divided into these three categories: accepted manners, etiquette, and customs work, occupation, livelihood a euphemism for sexual relations Shmuel Safrai in his essay The Term Derekh Ereẕ / מובנו של המונח 'דרך-ארץ' and David… ## [football and soccer](http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2026/07/football-and-soccer.html) _2026-07-29 · lynneguist · Separated by a Common Language_ I’m very pleased to present a guest blog by one of my students at the University of Sussex. The author, Elize Holyoake, recently completed our English in the United States module and will be entering her third year in the BA English Language and Linguistics in the autumn. I’m grateful to her for researching and writing this post! Every four years since its inauguration in 1930, the FIFA World Cup… ## [anah](http://www.balashon.com/2026/07/anah.html) _2026-07-21 · Balashon · Balashon - Hebrew Language Detective_ The root (or perhaps better to say roots) ענה anah is generally said to have four meanings in Hebrew. Klein identifies them as follows:: answer sing afflict occupy Let’s look at each of them and the words deriving from them. Answer This includes the senses of “answer, reply, respond”. It’s the most popular use of the verb in Hebrew today. A particular type of response is responding as a witness,… ## [anah](http://www.balashon.com/2026/07/anah.html) _2026-07-21 · Balashon · Balashon - Hebrew Language Detective_ The root (or perhaps better to say roots) ענה anah is generally said to have four meanings in Hebrew. Klein identifies them as follows:: answer sing afflict occupy Let’s look at each of them and the words deriving from them. Answer This includes the senses of “answer, reply, respond”. It’s the most popular use of the verb in Hebrew today. A particular type of response is responding as a witness,… ## [shouty!](http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2026/06/shouty.html) _2026-06-23 · lynneguist · Separated by a Common Language_ In April, Jody V. sent me a link to this New York Times article with the note " I noticed the word shouty in this piece. I can’t recall having seen the word used in an American publication before." Here it is in the context of the article: But in a social media post after talks with Mr. Rutte, the president reiterated his ire and threw in Greenland for good measure: “NATO WASN’T THERE WHEN WE… ## [ra'al and re'ala](http://www.balashon.com/2026/05/raal-and-reala.html) _2026-05-31 · Balashon · Balashon - Hebrew Language Detective_ Is there any connection between the words ra’al רַעַל - “poison, toxin” and re’ala רְעָלָה - “veil, scarf”? There are three primary theories. Let’s review them. The first suggests a connection between the root רעל and the root ערל, via a metathesis (a rearrangement of the letters). The adjective עָרֵל arel means “uncircumsized”, and this theory proposes a common sense of both roots meaning “to… ## [Ship software peacefully (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/12h24hu3Wpnt) _2026-05-31 · **Sponsored**_ Deploy apps from your repo with auto-config, instant previews, scaling, and monitoring. ## [how big (of) a problem?](http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2026/05/how-big-of-problem.html) _2026-05-17 · lynneguist · Separated by a Common Language_ Tibs wrote to me in October 2020: A few years ago, Americans started adding “ of ” in places it didn’t occur before. It gradually spread into books, and across the atlantic to here as well. I don’t have an exact timing - less than 10 years? I find it hard to remember examples, because it’s become part of the scenery, but it’s always a case where leaving out the “ of ” leaves the meaning identical… ## [rachatz](http://www.balashon.com/2026/05/rachatz.html) _2026-05-01 · Balashon · Balashon - Hebrew Language Detective_ In Hebrew, the verb רחץ rachatz means “to wash” or “to bathe.” In Aramaic, it means “to trust” or “to rely.” Is there any connection between the two? Let’s start by looking at the Hebrew root. It appears frequently in Biblical Hebrew — 72 times throughout the Tanakh . When talking about physical washing, as opposed to metaphorical cleansing, it refers to washing the human body, as in bathing, or… ## [rachatz](http://www.balashon.com/2026/05/rachatz.html) _2026-05-01 · Balashon · Balashon - Hebrew Language Detective_ In Hebrew, the verb רחץ rachatz means “to wash” or “to bathe.” In Aramaic, it means “to trust” or “to rely.” Is there any connection between the two? Let’s start by looking at the Hebrew root. It appears frequently in Biblical Hebrew — 72 times throughout the Tanakh . When talking about physical washing, as opposed to metaphorical cleansing, it refers to washing the human body, as in bathing, or… ## [administration and government](http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2026/04/administration-and-government.html) _2026-04-12 · lynneguist · Separated by a Common Language_ It's about time this topic has its own blog post. It's been an aside to other discussions on several occasions . It's not so much a difference between American and British English per se , but a difference in how our political systems work, and hence a difference in which words we need to use about them. PM's Question Time at UK parliament (Wikimedia commons) Because the UK has a parliamentary… ## [alongside](http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2026/03/alongside.html) _2026-03-21 · lynneguist · Separated by a Common Language_ A few months ago, an American friend of my spouse asked him to ask me: "Why is everyone suddenly saying alongside ?" I hadn't noticed it at that point, but once he'd mentioned it, I felt surrounded by alongside . As this Google Books ngram shows, the word has taken off in the 21st century: Separating out the British and American books, we can see that this is a British-led trend. Alongside climbed… ## [Are these words misspelled/misspelt most?](http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2026/02/are-these-words-misspelledmisspelt-most.html) _2026-02-26 · lynneguist · Separated by a Common Language_ The people at WordUnscrambler.pro sent me a list of "the most misspelled (BrE misspelt \*) words" for the UK. I get a lot of these "we did this thing so that your blog will give us free advertising," and I usually ignore them, but I'll give this one some attention—partly because they sent a US list to Language Log (who published it), so I can do some comparison. But I first have to gripe a bit.… ## [agartal](http://www.balashon.com/2026/02/agartal.html) _2026-02-23 · Balashon · Balashon - Hebrew Language Detective_ The word אֲגַרְטָל agartal , meaning "vase" in Modern Hebrew, doesn’t look like a native Hebrew word. But it actually has a biblical origin. It appears in only one verse, in a list of vessels taken by Nebuchadnezzar from the Temple in Jerusalem and then returned by Cyrus: וְאֵלֶּה מִסְפָּרָם אֲגַרְטְלֵי זָהָב שְׁלֹשִׁים אֲגַרְטְלֵי־כֶסֶף אָלֶף מַחֲלָפִים תִּשְׁעָה וְעֶשְׂרִים׃ "This is the… ## [agartal](http://www.balashon.com/2026/02/agartal.html) _2026-02-23 · Balashon · Balashon - Hebrew Language Detective_ The word אֲגַרְטָל agartal , meaning "vase" in Modern Hebrew, doesn’t look like a native Hebrew word. But it actually has a biblical origin. It appears in only one verse, in a list of vessels taken by Nebuchadnezzar from the Temple in Jerusalem and then returned by Cyrus: וְאֵלֶּה מִסְפָּרָם אֲגַרְטְלֵי זָהָב שְׁלֹשִׁים אֲגַרְטְלֵי־כֶסֶף אָלֶף מַחֲלָפִים תִּשְׁעָה וְעֶשְׂרִים׃ "This is the… ## [casbah and katzav](http://www.balashon.com/2026/02/casbah-and-katzav.html) _2026-02-16 · Balashon · Balashon - Hebrew Language Detective_ A casbah is a citadel or a fortified quarter of an Arab city. Does it have a cognate in Hebrew? Casbah (sometimes spelled kasbah) entered English from French, which got it from North African Arabic, where kasba meant "fortress." In Hebrew today it is spelled קַסְבָּה . In Arabic, in addition to fort/citadel, kasba can also mean " reed, cane, pipe. " There are two theories as to how the two… ## [casbah and katzav](http://www.balashon.com/2026/02/casbah-and-katzav.html) _2026-02-16 · Balashon · Balashon - Hebrew Language Detective_ A casbah is a citadel or a fortified quarter of an Arab city. Does it have a cognate in Hebrew? Casbah (sometimes spelled kasbah) entered English from French, which got it from North African Arabic, where kasba meant "fortress." In Hebrew today it is spelled קַסְבָּה . In Arabic, in addition to fort/citadel, kasba can also mean " reed, cane, pipe. " There are two theories as to how the two… ## [Make any domain metal (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/y5UQYZPP7dcV) _2026-02-16 · **Sponsored**_ Turn any domain into a blacked-out metal landing page with an email waitlist ## [20th anniversary of Balashon!](http://www.balashon.com/2026/02/20th-anniversary-of-balashon.html) _2026-02-09 · Balashon · Balashon - Hebrew Language Detective_ Today is Balashon’s 20th anniversary. I didn’t want to write a typical post about a single word or root, so I’m doing something different: an interview-style Q&A. I’ll ask myself the kinds of questions readers might be curious about - how the blog started, who it was for, what kept it going, what the numbers look like - and answer them as honestly as I can. It’s part nostalgia, part curiosity, and… ## [20th anniversary of Balashon!](http://www.balashon.com/2026/02/20th-anniversary-of-balashon.html) _2026-02-09 · Balashon · Balashon - Hebrew Language Detective_ Today is Balashon’s 20th anniversary. I didn’t want to write a typical post about a single word or root, so I’m doing something different: an interview-style Q&A. I’ll ask myself the kinds of questions readers might be curious about - how the blog started, who it was for, what kept it going, what the numbers look like - and answer them as honestly as I can. It’s part nostalgia, part curiosity, and… ## [nostalgia for present-day British English](http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2026/02/nostalgia-for-present-british-english.html) _2026-02-04 · lynneguist · Separated by a Common Language_ I get various Google Alerts for things related to my interests, and today I got one for a story in The Sun and the Daily Express about the '20 English words the public wants to revive'. Now, if I want to read these articles, I have to pay or give them my first-born, or something like that, so I'm not rushing to read them. But I've got enough of a gist from the Google Alert (orig. AmE) blurb : The… ## [email subscriptions are back](http://www.balashon.com/2026/02/email-subscriptions-are-back.html) _2026-02-02 · Balashon · Balashon - Hebrew Language Detective_ If you’ve been wondering about Balashon email updates, here’s the good news: they’re working again. I wrote up the background and why this has been complicated here: https://www.balashon.com/2025/11/email-updates.html To subscribe now, you can use the subscription box in the sidebar (it uses the same link), or subscribe directly here:… ## [email subscriptions are back](http://www.balashon.com/2026/02/email-subscriptions-are-back.html) _2026-02-02 · Balashon · Balashon - Hebrew Language Detective_ If you’ve been wondering about Balashon email updates, here’s the good news: they’re working again. I wrote up the background and why this has been complicated here: https://www.balashon.com/2025/11/email-updates.html To subscribe now, you can use the subscription box in the sidebar (it uses the same link), or subscribe directly here:… ## [email test post](http://www.balashon.com/2026/02/email-test-post.html) _2026-02-01 · Balashon · Balashon - Hebrew Language Detective_ Just a test. ## [email test post](http://www.balashon.com/2026/02/email-test-post.html) _2026-02-01 · Balashon · Balashon - Hebrew Language Detective_ Just a test. ## [US-to-UK Word of the Year 2025: zee](http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2025/12/us-to-uk-word-of-year-2025-zee.html) _2025-12-31 · lynneguist · Separated by a Common Language_ And t he 2025 Separated by a Common Language US-to-UK Word of the Year is (sorta kinda): zee (but mostly Gen Z ) I must start by assuring you: British people generally do not call the letter zee . Nevertheless, I have reasons for choosing zee this year: It is winning (particularly among\[st\] the people it describes) as the pronunciation of the generation name: Gen Z . It is a word that comes up… ## [UK-to-US Word of the Year 2025: fiddly](http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2025/12/uk-to-us-word-of-year-2025-fiddly.html) _2025-12-30 · lynneguist · Separated by a Common Language_ The 2025 Separated by a Common Language UK-to-US Word of the Year is: fiddly Here's an English teacher explaining the word Someone might have recommended this to me this year—if so, please out yourself in the comments, since I cannot find a pixel trail for a recommender. But I did find it in an email conversation I had with Ben Yagoda in deciding the 2022 WotY, where he said: Interesting slate of… ## [pleaded and pled](http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2025/11/pleaded-and-pled.html) _2025-11-23 · lynneguist · Separated by a Common Language_ I may have promised another topic for this month's blog...but another request has (orig. AmE) come over the transom , and I'm easily distractable, so... Mike C from Shropshire asks: Even most BBC news reporters seem to be using “pled” as the past tense / past participle. … Any thoughts? Thoughts? Do I have thoughts? I am plagued by them! Pleading and plea-ing Let's start with a basic observation… ## [CLI-first decentralized GPU compute (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/rqqwWMO3UG38) _2025-11-23 · **Sponsored**_ Pay workers or run your GPU for FFmpeg transcode and AI inference. ## [email updates?](http://www.balashon.com/2025/11/email-updates.html) _2025-11-02 · Balashon · Balashon - Hebrew Language Detective_ For many years, I provided the ability to subscribe to Balashon posts via Google FeedBurner. That feature shut down in 2021. I've since switched a few times - including MailerLite and Mailchimp, and most recently "follow.it". All of them have now removed the option for free email subscriptions, and I have not yet found a replacement. So first of all, you should know that I am aware that there are… ## [hadn't have VERBed](http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2025/10/hadnt-have-verbed.html) _2025-10-19 · lynneguist · Separated by a Common Language_ A great thing about being Facebook friends with linguists is that I get to benefit from their daily observations of English. Here's a recent observation from John Wells: Something I've just heard on the telly about someone who nearly drowned: "If the fisherman hadn't've spotted him, he might not have survived." I keep hearing this grammatical construction in BrE, with extra "have" ('ve) as… ## [Eroticism is in the Knocking: Taylor Swift's 'The Life of a Showgirl' Comparative Analysis & Review](https://philosophieblog.substack.com/p/eroticism-is-in-the-knocking-taylor) _2025-10-12 · Sophie · PhiloSophie_ How to write sex ## [caught + ADJ](http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2025/09/caught-adj.html) _2025-09-02 · lynneguist · Separated by a Common Language_ A shorter (maybe), quicker and earlier post this month, since I am going to be travel( l )ing without much internet access in September and am (orig. AmE) freaking out\* about how much work I have to do before the autumn/fall semester begins. In a recent Language Log post, Victor Mair points out a difference in how American and British teens might react to this shirt: Americans would tend to say I… ## [where I've been writing lately](http://www.balashon.com/2025/08/where-ive-been-writing-lately.html) _2025-08-18 · Balashon · Balashon - Hebrew Language Detective_ It’s been a while since I’ve posted here on Balashon. But I haven’t stopped writing about Hebrew and language. For some time now, I’ve been publishing a weekly column in HaMizrachi Weekly , where I explore language issues connected to the weekly Torah reading. You can read the archives and subscribe here: 👉 HaMizrachi Weekly In addition, I’m working on a new book - more details coming soon! So… ## [tips, dumps, fly-tipping, fly-posting, post no bills](http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2025/08/fly-tipping-fly-posting-post-no-bills.html) _2025-08-10 · lynneguist · Separated by a Common Language_ On my way home from work, I pass the windowless side of an end-of-terrace house , on which this sign is posted: Such signs are a common sight in England, and not immediately transparent to AmE speakers, who are more accustomed to 'No dumping' signs: from SmartSign.com (There's more we could say about these signs, but we haven't got space for that right now. For more on NO TRESPASSING , see this… ## [the fine/small print](http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2025/07/the-finesmall-print.html) _2025-07-13 · lynneguist · Separated by a Common Language_ Last month, Dave Mandl tagged me on this message on Bluesky : I hadn't really reali{s/z}ed it either, till Dave pointed it out. But sure enough, it is the case. Here are a couple of screenshots from the Corpus of Global Web-Based English , showing the fine print and the small print with a bit more grammatical context: Before we get into the how, when, and where of this, let's start with the what .… ## [balk and baulk](http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2025/06/balk-and-baulk.html) _2025-06-10 · lynneguist · Separated by a Common Language_ Over on Bluesky last month, I was pulled into a conversation that went something like this: Someone tweets a screenshot of a comment with the phrase Do you baulk at the film reviews... ? Someone American asks "how long have y'all been adding a u to balk ?" And then, predictably, some respondents say it's always been there, Noah Webster took it out. That's the point where someone ( c'est moi! )… ## [tons, loads and heaps of](http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2025/05/tons-loads-and-heaps-of.html) _2025-05-11 · lynneguist · Separated by a Common Language_ Harry Enfield, Loadsamoney I belong to a fantastic international writing group . There, last week, I presented a paragraph that included " tons of something" (I can't actually remember what the noun was). A New Zealander in the group commented, "I suppose we'd say heaps of ." Indeed. Here are some imprecise, informal ways of expressing 'large quantities of' in the Corpus of Global Web-Based… ## [Anglo-Saxon](http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2025/04/anglo-saxon.html) _2025-04-19 · lynneguist · Separated by a Common Language_ The first thing that made me want to write about Anglo-Saxon was my experience of French exchange students using the term to mean 'anglophone, English-speaking'. I'd warn them against the term, stating (but perhaps not explaining) that it is inaccurate and has connotations they didn't intend in British/American English. (So here comes the explanation.) The second thing is that I've been writing… ## [ghibli and kibel](http://www.balashon.com/2025/04/ghibli-and-kibel.html) _2025-04-02 · Balashon · Balashon - Hebrew Language Detective_ The latest viral internet trend is creating AI-generated images in the style of Studio Ghibli. You've very likely seen them by now—or maybe even created some yourself. They look something like this: But did you know there's a connection between Ghibli and a very common Hebrew root? As noted, the images are inspired by the style of Studio Ghibli, a Japanese animation (anime) studio. The Wikipedia… ## [Betty](https://philosophieblog.substack.com/p/betty) _2025-03-18 · Sophie · PhiloSophie_ The owls have been talking to me again (Fiction) ## [recipe verbs](http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2025/03/recipe-verbs.html) _2025-03-17 · lynneguist · Separated by a Common Language_ When I first moved to the UK, I hungrily watched the (orig. AmE) tv in my sublet apartment/flat in an attempt to acculturate myself. I can't remember if it was on an ad(vert) or on an early series of The Naked Chef , but I clearly remember the sentence: Just bung it under the grill! I already knew grill (=AmE broiler ) from my time in South Africa. It was b ung (meaning something like 'put… ## [-ed versus -t](http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2025/02/ed-versus-t.html) _2025-02-09 · lynneguist · Separated by a Common Language_ Ben Yagoda (Friend of SbaCL and Not One-Off Britishisms blogger) , who had recently noticed a US journalist saying learnt instead of learned , asked whether I'd covered the ‑ ed/ ‑ t alternation. It's one of those things that I've been putting off for a long time because it would be a very long post. Now I've been shamed out of my laziness. In order to do this in any kind of sensible way, I feel… ## [My Nazi Problem is Better than Your Nazi Problem](https://philosophieblog.substack.com/p/my-nazi-problem-is-better-than-your) _2025-01-28 · Sophie · PhiloSophie_ Help, this crowded public square is on fire ## [Manufacturing (sexual) Consent](https://philosophieblog.substack.com/p/manufacturing-sexual-consent) _2025-01-24 · Sophie · PhiloSophie_ Critiquing progressive sexual ethics (by a liberal), Neil Gaiman, and suicide is good sometimes actually ## [Sophie's Choice: Boobs or Butt - Survey Results!](https://philosophieblog.substack.com/p/sophies-choice-boobs-or-butt-survey) _2025-01-12 · Sophie · PhiloSophie_ What do men's sexual preferences for female body parts say about their personality and political orientation? ## [US-to-UK Word of the Year 2024: landslide](http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2024/12/us-to-uk-word-of-year-2024-landslide.html) _2024-12-31 · lynneguist · Separated by a Common Language_ I've been struck by the lack of election-related 2024 Words of the Year from the English dictionaries (for a list, see November's newsletter ). So I am here to repair that with my US-to-UK Word of the Year: landslide ...which was much-used in its figurative sense to describe the result of the UK election that ended 14 years of Conservative government. some landslide headlines in UK media Here's… ## [UK-to-US Word of the Year 2024: fortnight](http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2024/12/uk-to-us-word-of-year-2024-fortnight.html) _2024-12-30 · lynneguist · Separated by a Common Language_ So much of the "news" this year was about female popular music stars. The year started with Beyonce going country, then Charlie XCX declared a brat summer (leading Collins dictionaries to declare brat their Word of the Year). Facebook keeps feeding me videos of Ariana Grande acting and interviewing, and an incredible number of my middle-aged (and beyond) friends went to see Taylor Swift.… ## [Sophie's Choice: Boobs or Butt? - Take my survey!](https://philosophieblog.substack.com/p/sophies-choice-boobs-or-butt-take) _2024-12-13 · Sophie · PhiloSophie_ Men— what do your sexual preferences for female body parts say about your personality and political orientation?