Can you say “shibboleth?” What if your life depended on it? A shibboleth is a linguistic term that represents something that is emblematic of a group of people, and is used to identify a group’s insiders and outsiders.
A shibboleth is like a group’s secret password, and can take the form of an accent, custom, style, or any experience that characterizes a group as a whole.
The idea of the shibboleth began in the Book of Judges, when the Gileadites had beaten the Ephraimites in battle and were trying to prevent them from passing through the Jordan River. Everyone who wanted to cross over was required to say the word “shibboleth” so the soldiers could easily see which side they were on. Since the Ephraimites had no “sh” sound in their language, the word came out as “sibboleth,” making them too easy to spot. Shibboleth repercussions have gotten significantly less lethal since biblical times.
(via Merriam Webster & Wordnik / Image via The West Wing)
