![]() Word History: Today's Good Word is Hebrew shibboleth "ear of corn" and "flooded stream", both meanings ultimately from a Semitic root meaning "to hang down, stretch, draw or move along". In Play: The original shibboleth was always a word: "Mama, we have a new clubhouse and the shibboleth to get in is 'supercalifragilistic expialidocious'!" By the 20th century, however, it was any test of authenticity: "I escaped from the enemy but didn't know the shibboleth to cross the US lines-who had the most singles for the Chicago Cubs in 1943-so I went back, surrendered, and sat out the war in a POW camp." Succeed in that and spelling today's Good Word is a snap. It is one of those words, however, with a double consonant and a single one easy to confuse: we must remember to double the B but not the L. Notes: This word is so long and unEnglish that it has not developed a family and remains a lexical orphan. ![]() ![]() A test of authenticity such as a question that someone from outside a culture or organization cannot answer, betraying them as an outsider. A linguistic test or password, a catchword difficult to pronounce, designed to trap foreigners as nonnative speakers of a language.
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