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shibboleth
Sign in to savethumb|upright=1.3|A New Orleans resident challenges out-of-towners who had come to protest against the 2017 removal of the Robert E. Lee Monument. The out-of-towners' inability to pronounce "[[Tchoupitoulas Street" according to the local fashion would be a shibboleth marking them as outsiders.]]
Article
13 sectionsContents
- Origin
- Biblical account
- Phonetics of the biblical test
- Modern use
- Examples
- Furtive shibboleths
- In art
- See also
- References
- Notes
- Citations
- Further reading
- External links
thumb|upright=1.3|A New Orleans resident challenges out-of-towners who had come to protest against the 2017 removal of the Robert E. Lee Monument. The out-of-towners' inability to pronounce "[[Tchoupitoulas Street" according to the local fashion would be a shibboleth marking them as outsiders.]]
A shibboleth ( ; ) is any custom or tradition—usually a choice of phrasing or single word—that distinguishes one group of people from another. Historically, shibboleths have been used as passwords, ways of self-identification, signals of loyalty and affinity, ways of maintaining traditional segregation, or protection from threats. It has also come to mean a moral formula held tenaciously and unreflectingly.