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The Learning Kingdom's Cool Word of the Day for July 1, 1999
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shibboleth [n. SHIH-buh-leth]
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A shibboleth is a word or phrase that can be used to identify people
from different cultures or classes, or it can be a "catchword" or
phrase identified with one group. It can also be a practice or custom
that shows one is an outsider to a particular group.
All these meanings are about comparing the way people express
themselves. This has nothing to do with the original meaning of the
word, but reflects the way it was used as a "test word" in biblical
times.
In Hebrew, a shibbolet was a torrent or stream of water. According to
the Book Of Judges (12:4-6), after the Gileadites defeated the
Ephraimites, they used the soldier's pronunciation of "shibbolet" to
identify Ephraimites posing as Gileadites. The impostors were unable
to pronounce the initial "sh" of the word.
Today, similar "test words" are still sometimes used by military
forces to identify people from different ethnic or cultural
backgrounds.
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