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No. 118118
ID: a8abc3
>>118115
The book of Judges 12:4-6
Then Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead and fought against Ephraim. The men of Gilead defeated Ephraim, and Gilead seized the fords of the Jordan against Ephraim. When any of the fleeing Ephraimites said, “Let me pass,” the men of Gilead would say to him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he answered, “No!” they would ask him to say “Shibboleth.”[a] If he said “Sibboleth,” not pronouncing it exactly right, they would seize him and kill him at the fords of the Jordan. Forty-two thousand Ephraimites fell at that time.
Outside of the bible, one of the most famous example of a Shibboleth occurred in WWII. If a "lost" American or British soldier suddenly appeared out of the woods, he would be asked to pronounce the word squirrel. It's near impossible for native German speakers to say.
Outside of conflict and linguistic difference, a shibboleth may be a cultural touchstone or group shared experience that is used to identify insiders and outsiders. I'm sure everyone here has seen this in stolen honor videos or accounts. (What's your MOS? What's the order of precedence for medals? What's on the menu at Aziz's in Bagram that won't give you diarrhea?).
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