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Forums => English & Linguistics => Topic started by: Jonathon on October 10, 2008, 11:40:59 AM

Title: On a kibbutz or in a kibbutz?
Post by: Jonathon on October 10, 2008, 11:40:59 AM

I'm proofreading an interview with someone who is a native-born Israeli, and he says that he was "born in a kibbutz" and "lived on a kibbutz." I'm just wondering which would be preferable or whether it doesn't matter.  

Title: On a kibbutz or in a kibbutz?
Post by: Noemon on October 10, 2008, 11:50:22 AM

Both sound okay to my ear.  I've said both "I lived in a commune" and "I lived on a commune".

Title: On a kibbutz or in a kibbutz?
Post by: Tante Shvester on October 10, 2008, 12:36:52 PM

I think I've heard "on" more than "in".

Then again, where I come from, when we are all lined up, we are waiting on line and not in line, so there you have it.

Also, we don't "sleep in",  we "sleep late".   When we sleep in it's because we're not sleeping out.

Title: On a kibbutz or in a kibbutz?
Post by: The Genuine on October 10, 2008, 12:37:03 PM

We need some real Jews to weigh on in this.

Title: On a kibbutz or in a kibbutz?
Post by: Brinestone on October 10, 2008, 12:37:22 PM

Tante doesn't count?

Title: On a kibbutz or in a kibbutz?
Post by: Tante Shvester on October 10, 2008, 12:37:33 PM

<-- as Jewish a chicken soup.

Title: On a kibbutz or in a kibbutz?
Post by: rivka on October 10, 2008, 01:08:47 PM

I have never heard "in a kibbutz", only "on" one. (The difficulty is presumably that the Hebrew prefix means in/on/at/etc.)

Title: On a kibbutz or in a kibbutz?
Post by: Jonathon on October 10, 2008, 01:25:36 PM

"On a kibbutz" gets over 91,000 hits on Google, while "in a kibbutz" gets 40,300. So it appears that usage is divided but definitely leans towards "on."

Thanks for the input.

Title: On a kibbutz or in a kibbutz?
Post by: rivka on October 10, 2008, 01:35:57 PM

Looking at the hits for "in a kibbutz", very few are in the sense you mean either.

Examples:
What if I can participate in a kibbutz ulpan only in the summer?
This is a unique program whose purpose is the absorption of new immigrants in a kibbutz framework.
Mother and caregiver representations of toddlers in a kibbutz setting.
 

Title: On a kibbutz or in a kibbutz?
Post by: Jonathon on October 10, 2008, 01:56:57 PM

Ah, good point. I didn't catch that. I think I'll change the "in" to an "on."

Title: On a kibbutz or in a kibbutz?
Post by: Tante Shvester on October 10, 2008, 02:34:06 PM

Well, that's definitive. (http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&word1=%22on+a+kibbutz%22&word2=%22in+a+kibbutz%22)