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Reposted by John Kelly

Esther Schindler @estherschindler.bsky.social · 6d

I just saw someone use the abbreviation “AI;DR” and I’ll be laughing for a while.

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John Kelly @mashedradish.bsky.social · 3d

*via

John Kelly @mashedradish.bsky.social · 3d

Same here! He suffered for our vocabulary! Same root as ‘inane’ (vis Latin for “empty”).

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John Kelly @mashedradish.bsky.social · 3d

Prepositional gerundive phrase there. While literally “for submitting,” makes more sense to translate along the lines of “to be subjected (for examination).” SUBJECT is derived from the same verb (‘subicere’).

John Kelly @mashedradish.bsky.social · 3d

The specific writ concerning right to appear before a judge to determine lawfulness of imprisonment is HABEAS CORPUS AD SUBJICIENDUM: “you should have the body for submitting.”

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John Kelly @mashedradish.bsky.social · 3d

History of the term HABEAS CORPUS is old and complex. Concepts go back to important developments in English law in the 1100s. OED (while not fully revised) has record of it in Medieval Latin in 1200s. Established in English as such by the mid-1400s.

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John Kelly @mashedradish.bsky.social · 3d

CORPUS: “body.” Singular accusative. Plural is ‘corpora.’

CORPORATION, CORPOREAL, CORPSE, INCORPORATE so derived.

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John Kelly @mashedradish.bsky.social · 3d

HABEAS: “you should have.” Second-person singular present subjunctive of Latin ‘habēre’ “to have, hold.”

ABLE, DEBT, EXHIBIT, HABIT, MALADY are all related: mashedradish.com/2025/01/13/h...

“Habitat”: a natural, and etymological, history

How a frequentative verb connects Jimmy Carter and Carl Linnaeus

mashedradish.com

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John Kelly @mashedradish.bsky.social · 3d

The writ of habeas corpus, enshrined in the US constitution, is the right for a prisoner to appear before a judge to challenge their detention so that the government does not detain them unlawfully.

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John Kelly @mashedradish.bsky.social · 3d

Speaking of Latin in the news...

We also witnessed the President of the United States apparently confuse the principle of HABEAS CORPUS for a person.

HABEAS CORPUS literally means “you should have the body” in Latin.

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John Kelly @mashedradish.bsky.social · 3d

For the English text of "Dilexi Te," check out: www.vatican.va/content/leo-...

Apostolic Exhortation Dilexi te of the Holy Father Leo XIV on Love for the Poor (4 October 2025)

APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION DILEXI TE OF THE HOLY FATHER LEO XIV TO ALL CHRISTIANS ON LOVE FOR THE POOR [ Multimedia ] _____________________

www.vatican.va

John Kelly @mashedradish.bsky.social · 3d

The phrase is credited to Fr. Pedro Arrupe in 1968: Spanish Jesuit, strong advocate for social justice, part of influential movement of Liberation Theology.

As I learned it in my Jesuit schooling, it all boils down to: "Believe as hard as you want, but are you fighting for the poor and oppressed?"

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John Kelly @mashedradish.bsky.social · 3d

TO ALL CHRISTIANS
ON LOVE FOR THE POOR

This position is known as the "preferential option for the poor." Put simply, Christian effort should always prioritize the poor and marginalized.

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John Kelly @mashedradish.bsky.social · 3d

'Te' is "you," second-person singular accusative of the personal pronoun.

This singular 'you' strikes me as pointedly personal. I will leave the exegesis to the Pope, but he makes the purpose of his apostolic exhortation—an urging issued by the pope to the whole Church—clear in his subtitle:

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John Kelly @mashedradish.bsky.social · 3d

Here, the Pope is citing part of Revelations 3:9 from the New Testament.

'Dilexi' is "I have loved," first-person perfect form of 'diligere,' "to love, esteem, value," literally "to single out." This is also the source of 'diligent.'

'Intelligence, legal, legible,' and many more—all related!

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John Kelly @mashedradish.bsky.social · 3d

Latin in the news! Pope Leo XIV has issued his first apostolic exhortation. It's called "Dilexi Te."

That's Latin for "I have loved you."

Official papal texts like this are typically referred to by their first few words—known as an 'incipit' (Latin, "it begins")—in Latin.

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John Kelly @mashedradish.bsky.social · 4d

I will always maintain that Columbus, OH is, in fact, a foreign country. The sovereign state of OSU.

John Kelly @mashedradish.bsky.social · 4d

From my Cincinnati standpoint, this absolutely nails why Cleveland feels like a foreign country, despite being in the same state, and Louisville very much does not.

William Hazen @williamhazen.bsky.social · 5d

This is the most accurate depiction of the Midwest to date. Wichita has always felt like the last Midwest city while also being the first plains city.

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John Kelly @mashedradish.bsky.social · 7d

And to be clear, understanding our universe is not just science gratia science.

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John Kelly @mashedradish.bsky.social · 7d

Recently spoke to particle astrophysicist. He works on axions/dark matter. I asked him what misconception he’d like to disabuse people of. He said he wants people to understand the huge economic impact abstract-seeking work actually generates. Science for its own sake has downstream benefits!

Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 9d

As a theoretical cosmologist, I'm frequently asked "what is the benefit of the work you're doing for people's lives?" Nothing I work on makes money or cures disease.

There are a few different answers one can give, at various levels of "convincing" / "actually relevant to why the work is done."

1/🧵

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John Kelly @mashedradish.bsky.social · 9d

For most recent/current sense (which Swift uses but I love the idea of her/someone on her team diving into OED on this, too, and deepening the social/gender valences of her choice of title/theme), the OED cites George Soane’s drama ‘Lilian, the Show Girl’: “The tinsel dress of the poor show girl.”

John Kelly @mashedradish.bsky.social · 9d

The Life of a ‘Showgirl,’ #etymology edition.

Adapted from OED. Show + girl.

- 1750, young girl regarded as object of display, especially one who dresses/behaviors ostentatiously.

- 1816, young woman employed to model clothes.

- 1836–37, female performer in musicals, et al. (chorus girl)

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John Kelly @mashedradish.bsky.social · 9d

Yes! Not just you.

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Reposted by John Kelly

Because Language (becauselangpod) @becauselanguage.com · 9d

Kavanaugh stop

#WordOfTheWeek

Fight the Lies @fightlies.bsky.social · 9d

Kavanaugh Stop - "Brief detainment by lawless masked federal agents inflicting serious bodily injury, followed by weeks in a makeshift shithole overcrowded jail, and then being flown in the dark of night to a slave prison in some other country after which your name is disappeared from all records."

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Reposted by John Kelly

Wordorigins.org @wordorigins.bsky.social · 9d

I was interviewed by NPR the other day about the origin of "hoax"

www.npr.org/2025/10/01/n...

Fool me once: the magical origin of the word hoax

Frauds, swindles, cons, scams, and deceptions are collectively known as hoaxes. But there's more than meets the eye.

www.npr.org

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