SHIBBOLETH

Shibboleth

A shibboleth is a word, sound, or custom that a person unfamiliar with its significance may not pronounce or perform correctly relative to those who are familiar with it. It is used to identify foreigners or those who do not belong to a particular class or group of people. It also refers to features of language, and particularly to a word or phrase whose pronunciation identifies a speaker as belonging to a particular group.

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shibboleth

Noun

  1. A word, especially seen as a test, to distinguish someone as belonging to a particular nation, class, profession etc.
  2. A common or longstanding belief, custom, or catchphrase associated with a particular group, especially one with little current meaning or truth.
    It's about time we abandoned the bourgeois shibboleth that earning money makes you a better person.


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: shibboleth
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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