Fellow Forward contributor Menachem Wecker writes to ask: “I monitor certain search items related to Judaism on social media, and recently I came across the expression ‘worked like a Hebrew slave’ for the first time. It looks like it might be more frequently used in the African-American community. I wonder what are your thoughts on…
Not every column sees a mystery cleared up so quickly. Two weeks ago I appealed to you for help regarding the origin of the expression “to bagel” in the sense of subtly letting someone know you are Jewish or ascertaining whether he or she is. One of several responses received comes from Montreal-born human rights…
This comes from the Forward’s Naomi Zeveloff: “I just did a story it appeared in this newspaper’s October 4 issue on how Chabadniks figure out who is Jewish during their Sukkot street outreach. One of them described ‘bageling’ for me, by which he meant the process by which one Jew on the street subtly recognizes…
David Bell writes to inquire: “At present, the Arabic-named ‘al-Shabab’ — an organization composed of young Somalian Muslim fanatics intent on murder and mayhem — is very much in the news. The Hebrew word shovav denotes a mischievous child worlds apart from such murderous thugs. And yet the Hebrew and Arabic words have in common…
While waiting for a train in an Israeli station the other day, I was bemused to hear an announcement in English, following a similar one in Hebrew, that said, “Smokers are requested to smoke only in the dedicated area.” I suppose someone meant “designated,” unless the announcement concerned dedicated smokers. This kind of thing isn’t…
In last week’s column, I discussed Sarah Bunin Benor’s recent book, “Becoming Frum,” which dwells largely on the process whereby American Jews who have become religiously Orthodox adjust to the linguistic usages of the Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox communities they have joined. In many respects, as Benor points out, they have to learn to speak a…
‘As the discussion above has shown,” writes the author of a recent book about linguistic issues, “BTs address this liminality in various ways. Some become FFT — at times even passing as FFB — and others highlight their BT identity.” Some of you may immediately know who is being talked about. For those who don’t…
Commenting on my July 5 column about the word “Judas” and the New Testament figure it derives from, Robert Cotton writes: “It appears that you are not a member of the Association of English Grammarians, since if you were, you would have written ‘Judas is said to have hanged himself’ and not, as you did,…
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