What is a Shibboleth?

A brief overview of Shibboleths including their use during WW2.

Movies/Video Games Featured:

Inglourious Basterds 2009
Soldier of Orange 1977
Life of Brian 1979
Horse Feathers 1932
The Simpsons (Series)
Battle of the Bulge 1965
Band of Brothers 2001
Too Late the Hero 1970
The Great Raid 2015

#history #ww2

[chris.]

In WW2, it was common to stomp on a suspicious individuals foot. Most people respond in their native language as they didn't have time to think about it.

[remizome]

The French resistance came up with an interesting shibboleth during WW2 to detect enemy spies. In France there is a very popular piece of poetry learned by children at school, its name is "Le Corbeau et le Renard" by Jean de La Fontaine. Any german spy could learn it easily of course but... The children learn it in a very specific rhythm, it's a bit like they're singing a song. And only in school you'll learn it that way, while foreigners will say the piece without this specific pace. That was a really solid way to spot foreign spies.

[tobyblasto]

A Roman walks into a bar, holds up two fingers then says, “Five beers, please!'”

[ButcherOfBeek]

The coolest thing about that slip in Inglorious Bastards is that I had a moment, which gave a person away just by one word.
I had some tests with a doctor and she spoke Dutch perfectly. At first I Thought she was Dutch as well. Everything sounded so well the way she pronounced it, but when she said berg (mountain) that G sound was so un-dutch that I immideatly knew she wasnt from here. Everything was pronounced very well and 99.9% of perfect dutch wasnt enough to convince me of that only G sound which gave it away. My mum heard it aswell and asked about. The lady was from Germany or Denmark if I remember correctly, but it always make me think of that Tarantino movie

[bramvanlaere]

As a dutch speaker i can say with confidence that in the movie "Soldaat van Oranje". The "scheveningen" and "schoonmoeder" did not make them get through the checkpoint it was the "LUL" at the end that did.

[magnusengeseth]

The entire Danish language is basically one giant shibboleth.

[Asinr]

As a German, I can assure you that "duh" is not the only way we butcher "th". It is possible to train a German to get that right, though.
"Squirrel" however will always give us an aneurysm

[maximearnan]

I remember a story of infiltrated German soldiers with American uniforms during the battle of the Bulge, caught because they used the word "petrol" instead of "gas"

[williamcabot]

During WW2, my father was a US Army soldier in the 112th Calvary operating in the Philippines. He often pulled guard duty at night during combat. He described the passwords that every GI should know that evening to regain entry after visiting the latrine. All the passwords were always two-word passwords containing "L", a combination that almost any Japanese would pronounce incorrectly. Some of the passwords were: "Lamp Light", "Late Lady" and "Lost Lighter".

[Activated_Complex]

The Gestapo overheard a linguist remark that German society was run through with shibboleths, and seized him for interrogation as to their identities and whereabouts.

[derekdekker]

A famous Shibboleth was "Schild en Vriend" during the Battle of the Guilded Spurs in 1302, near Bruges. The Flemish townsmen who rebelled against the French king knew that no French person would be able to pronounce these words.

[mattturner]

There's a town in Arizona, Prescott, that most people pronounce "PRESS-cot, " but the locals of that town pronounce as "PRESS-kit."
When there was a terrible wildfire near there, it got international attention, and you could tell which news sources were local or not depending on how they pronounced thr name of the town.

[civilprotection]

I loved that scene in Inglorious Bastards. Especially the part about his accent since Michael Fassbender can speak German but due to him being Irish he pronounces some words differently. An SS officer who can pick up on an odd accent just shows how good he is at his job since every state in Germany, especially Bavaria since they have their own terms for stuff, has their own quirks on pronunciation. Not even including Austria or German speaking Swiss.

[vankraken]

Makes me think of "squirrel" being a well known word that is difficult for Germans to say in English while the German word for squirrel "Eichhörnchen" is similarly difficult for English speakers to say.

[SampoPaalanen]

Finnish used the "höyryjyrä" (steamroller) as a Shibboleth during WWII (and the Winter War) as not only did it contain the native Finnish "Ö" and "Ä" sounds that could be hard to pronounce to non-native speaker, Russians pronounced the hard "J" sound in a distinct way that gave them away (or at least could).

[agilaeric]

Reminds me of the most notorious example of this, the "Parsley Massacre" where Haitians were murdered by President Trujillo's troops, and were often identified by the shibboleth for "parsley" ("perejil" in Dominican Republic Spanish, but "persil" in Haitian French).

[zendell]

That finger thing was funny to me. My French teacher had a story about that. She taught her son to count starting with his thumb. When he made it to kindergarten the teachers there tried to "fix" it, causing all sorts of trouble. Such a silly thing to differentiate us. Honestly starting with your thumb makes more sense.

[rednaughtstudios]

In New Guinea, Australian soldiers would ask those approaching which wharf they'd departed from in Sydney, to which the answer was Woolloomooloo.

[pepijnwarmerdam]

The Dutch/Flemish pronounciation of SCH and G have been used as a shibboleth for centuries because very few foreign speakers can pronounce those. Another example is the use of "Schild en vriend" (shield and friend) by the citizens of Brugge during their revolt against the French in the early 1300's.

[comradesam]

In the netherlands during ww2 dutch soldiers could also ask for a person to state a sentence with atleast one sch and one g because we’ve learned germans can’t pronounce them. Hence allot of passwords during the night included a sch or g to add another layer of security, if the germans overheard the password they still couldn’t say it due to pronouncing.