For Ha-Zevi, Ben Yehuda decided to use a system he called Total Hebrew. While other Hebrew language papers used only Biblical Hebrew, using loan words from the local language where Biblical Hebrew did not suffice, Ben Yehuda filled the gaps with Talmudic and Medieval Hebrew. He chose words from sources the people that knew Biblical Hebrew well enough would also be familiar with. He would also coin words where the Hebrew sources did not suffice, both while working and at home. The final source for his Total Hebrew was the pidgin Market Hebrew. Here there were terms for everyday words like ``please'' and ``thank you'' that the older sources did not provide succinctly. [1, p60] In this way he was able to bring down the loan word use to 2%, compared to the 14% of most European papers. All three of his non-Biblical sources bothered some people, but the choice of Market Hebrew as a source was the most objectionable, with its being viewed as corrupted and lazy. He was the editor, however, and the religious leaders who objected did no more than object.
Ben Yehuda saw Ha-Zevi as a major tool for the spread of Hebrew, especially speakable Hebrew. He thought that people needed to have more words available to them, but he knew that people were generally resistant to accepting words that they were told were new. He would, then, include newly coined words without footnote, translation, or even vocalization, with the goal that people would pick them up from context. [1, p65] This was not all that useful, as without the vocalization people were not able to pronounce them. On the other hand, if he had vocalized them, they would have stood out visually and people wouldn't have accepted them.