In today’s world, there are so many groups, organisations, sects, subcultures, bodies, cliques, and so on. Each has their own unique vocabulary that means a lot to its members, but not much at all to outsiders.
Meaning: a word or saying associated with a group—it can be a particular way of pronouncing a word, a list of organisation-specific acronyms, an inside joke, scientific words, or regional slang. It can also refer to a widely held belief, and especially one that no longer holds importance or accuracy.
Origin: from the Hebrew word shibboleth, meaning “flood” or “stream”, or “ear of corn”. The beginning of our current meaning can be found in an account in Judges 12:4-6. Here, the Gileadite sentries needed to distinguish their own people from the fleeing Ephraimites. The watchword was shibboleth, but the Ephraimites would pronounce it as sibboleth, missing the sh- sound, clearly identifying them as the enemy.
Example: 1) “Mother reminded me of her oft-repeated shibboleth: ‘Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.'” 2) “I couldn’t understand the medical journal—it was full of shibboleths!”
When I think about my life, I can identify a number of categories of shibboleths that I may use and only a select group of people would understand. Do you know what I mean when I say CPTED? If you have studied or worked in criminology or crime prevention, you would surely know this acronym. If I say, “It’s not a five minute job,” that would be an inside joke that only my family understands. Can you think of shibboleths from your life?