What's Your Shibboleth?
Interesting article (for word-lovers like me) on freedictionary.com about Shibboleth. A shibboleth is a way of pronouncing a word or words that identifies you as a member of a certain ethnic group or region. Shibboleths were actually used during wartime to distinguish friend from foe. We're all familiar with the Bostonian "paak the caar" (park the car) and the Canadian "ahboot" (about).
We've got alot of them in southestern PA where I'm from. My classmate's dad wanted her to "shuffle the snow" which made me wonder what he did when he played card games. My grandmother took a "shar" (rhymes with "bar") and many people from our German-settled area said "naw vonst" (now once). We're also famous for incorrect positioning of prepositional phrases ("Throw the pigs over the fence some food"). My personal shibboleth was "caw-fee" when I lived in Philadelphia. And having moved "down South" I'm now prone to saying "y-all" (you all).
What's your shibboleth? Is it from your cultural heritage or region of residence?
posted by junebee @ 8:00 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
You got me on that one June. Actually I never even knew I had an accent until Stringman asked me where I am from! probably the only one I can think of is one the YM and I were discussing over dinner the other night. We discovered that instead of saying "you're welcome" when being thanked for passing something at the table or otherwise we just say "welkum" and it's not just us...we have since noticed most people here say it that way.
I thought "Shibboleth" was what the roadies always said through the mics on their soundcheck. Along with "Check 1."
Well, I'm from Boston. I did live outside the area for several years, and learned to speak "standard" (unaccented) English. But when I'm speaking with a native, I shift into the local accent and "staht pahkin' my cah in Hahvahd Yahd with my brothah Chahlie for a dollah", like a true Bostonian.
Are you in the part of PA where people say "Yins going out?" as in "Are you going out?"
When I left CT to go to school in PA, I confronted people who said sack (for bag), sweep (for vacuum) and pop (for soda or soft drink). After four years I was able to say sweep, but kept loyal to vacuum and bag. Here in the Washington DC area, people stand on-line (not in-line, as I do). I am pretty good at maintaining my vocabulary. But one nice attribute about Washington DC and here at the edge of the old South (Fredericksburg) - the use of the word "Miss" added to a woman's first name, such as Miss June. Very nice, soft, honorable. The older the she is, the nicer it is to call her Miss.
Spiderwalk: You're lucky if you even get "welkum" out of some people nowadays.
Stringman: No, but my step-mother says "Yous" (plural you, as in asking my husband and I if were are doing something) which my mother says just proves that my stepmother is low-class (she's not, that's the only grammatical infraction she uses!).
Don Wood: Oh thanks, make me sound older than I already am!
hmmm...after reading some of the comments I guess we do have a few Shibboleths. I say Sack, sweep,pop, "Take the garbage out", mow the lawn, while getting groceries we call the things you put food in "cart" and when we take a trip somewhere we call it
"vacation" vs."holiday", Ranch dressing for a salad is called "house" dressing, and hot dogs are called weiners!
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