SHIBBOLETH

SHIBBOLETH [From Hebrew shibbōleth, meaning uncertain, perhaps either ‘stream in flood’ or ‘ear of corn’. The English use originates in the Bible, in the Book of Judges 12: 5–6, where the Gileadites defeat the Ephraimites at the River Jordan: ‘And the Gileadites tooke the passages of Iordan before the Ephraimites: and it was so that when those Ephraimites which were escaped saide, Let me go ouer, that the men of Gilead said vnto him, Art thou an Ephraimite? If he said, Nay: Then said they vnto him, Say now, Shibboleth: and he said, Sibboleth: for hee could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they tooke him, and slewe him at the passages of Iordan.’ (Authorized Version, 1611)].
1. A peculiarity of pronunciation that indicates someone's regional and/or social origins, such as toity-toid thirty-third, serving to identify someone from Brooklyn.

2. A style, expression, custom, or mannerism that identifies an enemy or someone disliked or different because of background, community, occupation, etc.: for example, extreme political slogans referred to as Fascist/Commie shibboleths. Usually, the disapproval runs one way, higher social Gileadites detecting and rejecting lower social Ephraimites, but the reverse is also possible, as when in Britain, in assessing the vowel sounds in can't dance, speakers who say ‘cahn't dahnce’ are often dismissed as toffs and snobs. See MARKED AND UNMARKED TERMS, STEREOTYPE.