In a comment, give me an example of a phrase that you consider a shibboleth. Then, explain why. In your explanation, please try to use at least one other vocabulary word.
A common shibboleth is the way we pronounce the basketball team name Celtics (best basketball team). A true Irishman would always try to seduce you into saying it the first way, but a true fan would teach you the proper way. The C in Celtic is traditionally pronounced with a "k" sound like in car. Whereas when speaking of the basketball team you pronounce the C with a "s" sound like in soccer. It is the same word in both cases but the "s" sound distinguishes the team into a unique separate group.
One shibboleth I've seen, was "Right store. Right price.", for Kroger. This shibboleth was made to induce people to shop at this store, because it convinces them that they are saving a lot of money by shopping here, instead of shopping in any other grocery store. In some cases, it's actually very effective. But it's just an advertising strategy to help people remember that Kroger has low prices.
For me, a shibboleth would be Geico's "Fifteen minutes can save you 15% or more on car insurance." This shibboleth was designed to say that if you spend 15 minutes to take the time to buy Geico car insurance, you could save fifteen percent or more just by doing so. They say that those fifteen minutes you spend are conducive to saving more money. In some cases this may be true, although to others this may just be a good sounding advertisement that gets easily stuck in the minds of the people watching the commercial or seeing the ad. This could induce them to buy the insurance, but it may just become annoying after a while.
In New York City there is a street in downtown Manhattan called Houston. People native to the city pronounce it "house-ton," but visitors say Houston the way we say Houston, Texas. Though living in the city spelled the same way as the street may seem conducive to knowing how to say it correctly, in reality it is a glaring indication that you are from out of town when pronounced as such. I consider this shibboleth because it is a word that distinguishes one group of people from another.
A shibboleth that continually annoys me is the cold and super cold bars on the coors light commercials. The bars tell you when the beer is cold enoch to drink. However, for me it simply gets boring from seeing the same ads over and over again. This slogan is a shibboleth because it shows a characteristic of a certain group in this case a company for other beer companies.
A shibboleth are the Dos Equis beer, “The most interesting man in the world,” commercials. The commercials consist of small, unrealistic anecdotes about a precocious man. It is a shibboleth because every time you hear “the most interesting man in the world” on the radio, it is easy for the mind to instantly link that to Dos Equis. The commercials aren’t actually saying that drinking their beer can make all of the examples they give on the commercials happen, but the idiotic, yet amusing anecdotes attract one attention to the commercial where they would normally rather ignore a commercial.
A common shibboleth that people used is when we say "God bless you" when people sneeze. It has become pretty much an instinct to say "God bless you" when somebody sneezes. In a way I find it strange and indolent when people dont say this after somebody sneezes because I've become so accustomed to hearing this phrase. However, I don't actually believe people are actually trying to say "God bless you" like in a religious way, people just say it because it has become a learned behavior. What really makes this post ironic, is that as I typed, I just said "God bless you" to my mom and didn't even stop to ponder about what I just said.
One shibboleth that we see each year is the differences of Kinkaid and St. Johns that are displayed mostly during SOK week. Kinkaid seniors dress up like precocious nerds which is the characteristic of a "typical" St. Johns student while the St. Johns students dress very preppy because that is apparently a characteristic of a "typical" Kinkaid student. Even though the stereotypes are not always true the tradition of dressing up like each other has been going on for a very long time at Kinkaid and St. Johns.
"Don't wear white shoes after labor day." The color of your shoes used to be very important to women, and fashionistas would not be seen in white shoes after labor day except for weddings. Today people wear whatever shoes they want without fear of being branded as being indolent when it comes to style. In fact, even on shoes like "What Not to Wear" they frequently contradict the old rule by suggesting white shoes a good contrast. I personally think white shoes look out of place after Thanksgiving or very cold weather, but they are just fine after Labor Day. So go ahead everyone! Crack out your white flats and heels, because nobody cares anymore!
Streichholzschächtelchen, meaning "matchbox" in German, would be a good example of what I would consider a shibboleth. Distinguishing between a native German speaker and a non-native one is quite simple when one is asked to pronounce this monstrosity of a word. A fond memory of mine when I was in Germany would be one day when one of my friends asked me pronounce this word. I will not easily forget the bedlam that erupted of laughter after my foreseeable failure of the pronunciation of this word. However, it was definitely a fun experience for me, and it was a bitter taste of the language that I was going to be learning during my time there.
"Y'all" is a classic example of a shibboleth. The conjunction of the words "you all" has become a tell tale sign of where someone grew up. In the southern states it is extremely popular for people to say y'all, but in northern states they almost always say you all. I have been up north several times and every time it is always the same thing. If I am telling someone an anecdote and I throw in "y'all", all of a sudden I am bombarded by questions about the south. I don't even think about it when I say it, it is just how I was raised. When up north though, saying "y'all" is just as good as yelling "IM FROM THE SOUTH" from a mountain top.
A shibboleth that works as a conductive to bring in people to a cerain bussiness is the slogan for Subway. "Subway, Eat Fresh," is the Subway slogan and it is trying to seduce customers into buying their product. If I were to of heard that slogan for the first time, I am not going to lie, it would attract me to the product. This shibboleth is a very short one like "Just Do It," by Nike, but both of these shibboleths are aboveboard. They are short, sweet and to the point.
the shibboleth "So easy a caveman can do it" is used very often for GEICO commercials and it really catches your attention. I think this shibboleth works very well for them because it catches your attention. Although this is true, I find this slogan to be implying that cavemen are indolent people, but nevertheless, it does make you listen to the commercial.
A shibboleth that is commonly used in today's society is when someone says "No offense" after they say something that clearly is offensive. For example someone could just walk up to you and say" Your sweater is really ugly. No offense.” I feel like people are always saying "No offense" even if though they do not really mind if they are offending you. It always annoys me when people say this shibboleth because it does not make whatever they are saying less offensive it just shows that you know that what you are saying is offensive, but you decide to say it anyway.
A shibboleth that's often used could be, in my opinion, 'bread' as a slang term for money. While it is a popular word among many people including Billy Joel in his song 'Piano Man', most people can't tell you where the term originated from. If you ask someone when bread began being used as a slang term for money and they can answer you correctly, that indicates that said person is familiar with Cockney rhyming slang. You see, Cockney rhyming slang is consists replacing a common word for something that rhymes with it. How replacing words with often non sequitur words that rhyme is conductive to them baffles me, but I still know about how it happens. Bread and honey were originally used as synonym for money, honey rhyming with money. However, over time the expression got shortened so only bread was used, and so the slang term 'bread' emerged. If someone were able to tell all about the origin of the term bread, you'd know that they were either Cockney or well-versed in Cockney slang and its origins.
A shibboleth I know of is crêpe. They are delicious pastries in France. In french, they are pronounced like prep with a "c", but in the United States where they are also popular, they are pronounced like grape with a "c". Native french speakers can immediately tell if someone orders a "krape" that they are american and they usually try to rip you off in a lot of places. It isn't difficult for americans to pronounce crêpe correctly, but we choose to pronounce it harshly like many other french words in English.
As our world progresses, so do the people, and so do the people's beliefs and understanding of what's right. For example, divorce has become a much less rare occurrence now then it used to be. Nowadays, because people get divorced so often, I feel like the phrase, "'Til death do us part," has become nothing more then a shibboleth. It almost seems like when people say this as they're getting married, they don't actually comprehend what they're actually saying. I'm not trying to say that people shouldn't say this because everyone gets divorced (that's obviously not true), but I think that people should be more aware of the commitment that they're actually making to their husband/wife when say those words during their wedding. I think that people should always be aware of the meaning of what they're saying in order to avoid inducing confusion.
A famous shibboleth is a cereal slogan for Wheaties, "Breakfast of champions!". Who does not want to be a champion? Everyone is seduced by ads in their daily lives to be a champion, why not start at breakfast? This slogan is easy to remember and really sticks with you through the day! This slogan makes you want to be strong and successful. This breakfast makes you not want to be indolent but successful!!
In many movie commercials I've seen, the speaker usually says, " The movie of the year." This is used in an attempt to promote even the silliest or most unappealing anecdotes. This phrase tries to both catches the audience's attention and usually seduces people into watching the movie. Most commercials use this, so much so that when we hear the phrase, it sounds familiar and makes the commercial seem like most others. This phrase has become worn out over the years.
A well known shibboleth is "jk" right now in our society. Many people use it when they are trying to joke with people. For example, You look terrible today!... JK!" This type of shibboleth makes people feel bad because even if you say jk, they may still feel hurt and sad. Just because people think that they can add JK to a sentence and make a person feel better, when they really think that they can get away with saying hurtful stuff.
One shibboleth is the word "dinner". When we hear this word, we probably all think of the steak or soup we're going to have before we start our homework, take showers, watch television and go to bed. This word did not used to have the meaning it does now. Numerous spelling errors and confusions have induced the meaning of the word. The word used to be supper to mean the last meal of the day and "dinner" was used for what we now call lunch.
There are many phrases I that are used literally every day that I think may sometimes lose their meaning. For example, my mom (and I'm sure most other moms included) say hello when I get in the car after school and this is normally followed by "How was your day?" to which I almost reply with "good." Every. single. afternoon. The phrase is so routine and so routine is my response that it could be considered a shibboleth. Maybe every now and then this phrase will induce a conversation but most often it is just common courtesy. Another phrase just like this is used in most conversations from day to day. It is common courtesy to say "How are you?" to someone after saying hello whether you're passing in the hall or starting a conversation someplace. The response, like the phrase earlier, is almost always "good." But has this been such a routine that we don't even listen for the response? Do we actually have a desire to hear it? I'm not saying that we shouldn't ask but it sometimes seems like it has lost its meaning. While these phrases are polite and courteous, they can sometimes seem like shibboleths.
An example of a shibboleth is "an apple a day keeps the doctor away". If you take this literally, like I do, it means that you will not have to go to the doctor if you eat one apple every day. I imagine an indolent person would use this phrase when responding to someone who is asking to be brought to the doctor. "Mom, I think I have the flu. We should go see the doctor." "Well, an apple a day keeps the doctor away!" I guess if that phrase is true then the cure to cancer grows on trees.
An example of a shibboleth could be the slogan for krogers which could either be the right store, the right price or more value for the way you live. Both slogans try to push across a point that if you shop at krogers, you will save more money. I feel like the first slogan is more persuasive than the other because i have heard it more than the other. Its shown on many commercials and other bilboard advertisements. These are examples of shibboleths because they are slogans that distinguish the store above other grocery stores.
An example of a shibboleth is "like a good neighbor State Farm is there." I think this modo is a positive reinforcement to all the customers that have state farm that if there ever in trouble State farm is there. And Unlike Progressive who uses State Farm as a scapegoat for their commercials, State Farm just advertises their own company and doesn't put other ones down. This is a great and convincing shibboleth in my opinion.
A shibboleth that I notice in my everyday life, is the slogan for H.E.B, "here everything's better." The name H.E.B actually stands for Herbert E. Butt. Once people realized the name of the owner, they would make fun of the store. In order to get rid of the ignominy from the owner's name, they made a new slogan saying "here everything's better" to stand for H.E.B. They make many commercials where at the end it always says "here everything's better," and they make their employees wear t-shirts saying "here everything's better." This slogan or shibboleth is very effective because the store actually tries really hard to make their grocery store better than any other grocery store. This brings people to their store believing that it is better than any other grocery store, then when they realize it's actually petty awesome they keep coming back.
A shibboleth that i notice commonly is "NationWide is on your side" and is in the commercial for nationwide insurance. This parse is made to get your attention, especially if you have just been denied additional money by a different car insurance. This makes you feel like you have someone who is "on your side". This shibboleth is like many, short and sweet and gets a good point through to you.
A common shibboleth is the way we pronounce the basketball team name Celtics (best basketball team). A true Irishman would always try to seduce you into saying it the first way, but a true fan would teach you the proper way. The C in Celtic is traditionally pronounced with a "k" sound like in car. Whereas when speaking of the basketball team you pronounce the C with a "s" sound like in soccer. It is the same word in both cases but the "s" sound distinguishes the team into a unique separate group.
ReplyDeleteOne shibboleth I've seen, was "Right store. Right price.", for Kroger. This shibboleth was made to induce people to shop at this store, because it convinces them that they are saving a lot of money by shopping here, instead of shopping in any other grocery store. In some cases, it's actually very effective. But it's just an advertising strategy to help people remember that Kroger has low prices.
ReplyDeleteFor me, a shibboleth would be Geico's "Fifteen minutes can save you 15% or more on car insurance." This shibboleth was designed to say that if you spend 15 minutes to take the time to buy Geico car insurance, you could save fifteen percent or more just by doing so. They say that those fifteen minutes you spend are conducive to saving more money. In some cases this may be true, although to others this may just be a good sounding advertisement that gets easily stuck in the minds of the people watching the commercial or seeing the ad. This could induce them to buy the insurance, but it may just become annoying after a while.
ReplyDeleteIn New York City there is a street in downtown Manhattan called Houston. People native to the city pronounce it "house-ton," but visitors say Houston the way we say Houston, Texas. Though living in the city spelled the same way as the street may seem conducive to knowing how to say it correctly, in reality it is a glaring indication that you are from out of town when pronounced as such. I consider this shibboleth because it is a word that distinguishes one group of people from another.
ReplyDeleteA shibboleth that continually annoys me is the cold and super cold bars on the coors light commercials. The bars tell you when the beer is cold enoch to drink. However, for me it simply gets boring from seeing the same ads over and over again. This slogan is a shibboleth because it shows a characteristic of a certain group in this case a company for other beer companies.
ReplyDeleteA shibboleth are the Dos Equis beer, “The most interesting man in the world,” commercials. The commercials consist of small, unrealistic anecdotes about a precocious man. It is a shibboleth because every time you hear “the most interesting man in the world” on the radio, it is easy for the mind to instantly link that to Dos Equis. The commercials aren’t actually saying that drinking their beer can make all of the examples they give on the commercials happen, but the idiotic, yet amusing anecdotes attract one attention to the commercial where they would normally rather ignore a commercial.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteA common shibboleth that people used is when we say "God bless you" when people sneeze. It has become pretty much an instinct to say "God bless you" when somebody sneezes. In a way I find it strange and indolent when people dont say this after somebody sneezes because I've become so accustomed to hearing this phrase. However, I don't actually believe people are actually trying to say "God bless you" like in a religious way, people just say it because it has become a learned behavior. What really makes this post ironic, is that as I typed, I just said "God bless you" to my mom and didn't even stop to ponder about what I just said.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteOne shibboleth that we see each year is the differences of Kinkaid and St. Johns that are displayed mostly during SOK week. Kinkaid seniors dress up like precocious nerds which is the characteristic of a "typical" St. Johns student while the St. Johns students dress very preppy because that is apparently a characteristic of a "typical" Kinkaid student. Even though the stereotypes are not always true the tradition of dressing up like each other has been going on for a very long time at Kinkaid and St. Johns.
ReplyDelete"Don't wear white shoes after labor day." The color of your shoes used to be very important to women, and fashionistas would not be seen in white shoes after labor day except for weddings. Today people wear whatever shoes they want without fear of being branded as being indolent when it comes to style. In fact, even on shoes like "What Not to Wear" they frequently contradict the old rule by suggesting white shoes a good contrast. I personally think white shoes look out of place after Thanksgiving or very cold weather, but they are just fine after Labor Day. So go ahead everyone! Crack out your white flats and heels, because nobody cares anymore!
ReplyDeleteStreichholzschächtelchen, meaning "matchbox" in German, would be a good example of what I would consider a shibboleth. Distinguishing between a native German speaker and a non-native one is quite simple when one is asked to pronounce this monstrosity of a word. A fond memory of mine when I was in Germany would be one day when one of my friends asked me pronounce this word. I will not easily forget the bedlam that erupted of laughter after my foreseeable failure of the pronunciation of this word. However, it was definitely a fun experience for me, and it was a bitter taste of the language that I was going to be learning during my time there.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete"Y'all" is a classic example of a shibboleth. The conjunction of the words "you all" has become a tell tale sign of where someone grew up. In the southern states it is extremely popular for people to say y'all, but in northern states they almost always say you all. I have been up north several times and every time it is always the same thing. If I am telling someone an anecdote and I throw in "y'all", all of a sudden I am bombarded by questions about the south. I don't even think about it when I say it, it is just how I was raised. When up north though, saying "y'all" is just as good as yelling "IM FROM THE SOUTH" from a mountain top.
ReplyDeleteA shibboleth that works as a conductive to bring in people to a cerain bussiness is the slogan for Subway. "Subway, Eat Fresh," is the Subway slogan and it is trying to seduce customers into buying their product. If I were to of heard that slogan for the first time, I am not going to lie, it would attract me to the product. This shibboleth is a very short one like "Just Do It," by Nike, but both of these shibboleths are aboveboard. They are short, sweet and to the point.
ReplyDeletethe shibboleth "So easy a caveman can do it" is used very often for GEICO commercials and it really catches your attention. I think this shibboleth works very well for them because it catches your attention. Although this is true, I find this slogan to be implying that cavemen are indolent people, but nevertheless, it does make you listen to the commercial.
ReplyDeleteA shibboleth that is commonly used in today's society is when someone says "No offense" after they say something that clearly is offensive. For example someone could just walk up to you and say" Your sweater is really ugly. No offense.” I feel like people are always saying "No offense" even if though they do not really mind if they are offending you. It always annoys me when people say this shibboleth because it does not make whatever they are saying less offensive it just shows that you know that what you are saying is offensive, but you decide to say it anyway.
ReplyDeleteA shibboleth that's often used could be, in my opinion, 'bread' as a slang term for money. While it is a popular word among many people including Billy Joel in his song 'Piano Man', most people can't tell you where the term originated from. If you ask someone when bread began being used as a slang term for money and they can answer you correctly, that indicates that said person is familiar with Cockney rhyming slang. You see, Cockney rhyming slang is consists replacing a common word for something that rhymes with it. How replacing words with often non sequitur words that rhyme is conductive to them baffles me, but I still know about how it happens. Bread and honey were originally used as synonym for money, honey rhyming with money. However, over time the expression got shortened so only bread was used, and so the slang term 'bread' emerged. If someone were able to tell all about the origin of the term bread, you'd know that they were either Cockney or well-versed in Cockney slang and its origins.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteA shibboleth I know of is crêpe. They are delicious pastries in France. In french, they are pronounced like prep with a "c", but in the United States where they are also popular, they are pronounced like grape with a "c". Native french speakers can immediately tell if someone orders a "krape" that they are american and they usually try to rip you off in a lot of places. It isn't difficult for americans to pronounce crêpe correctly, but we choose to pronounce it harshly like many other french words in English.
ReplyDeleteAs our world progresses, so do the people, and so do the people's beliefs and understanding of what's right. For example, divorce has become a much less rare occurrence now then it used to be. Nowadays, because people get divorced so often, I feel like the phrase, "'Til death do us part," has become nothing more then a shibboleth. It almost seems like when people say this as they're getting married, they don't actually comprehend what they're actually saying. I'm not trying to say that people shouldn't say this because everyone gets divorced (that's obviously not true), but I think that people should be more aware of the commitment that they're actually making to their husband/wife when say those words during their wedding. I think that people should always be aware of the meaning of what they're saying in order to avoid inducing confusion.
ReplyDeleteA famous shibboleth is a cereal slogan for Wheaties, "Breakfast of champions!". Who does not want to be a champion? Everyone is seduced by ads in their daily lives to be a champion, why not start at breakfast? This slogan is easy to remember and really sticks with you through the day! This slogan makes you want to be strong and successful. This breakfast makes you not want to be indolent but successful!!
ReplyDeleteIn many movie commercials I've seen, the speaker usually says, " The movie of the year." This is used in an attempt to promote even the silliest or most unappealing anecdotes. This phrase tries to both catches the audience's attention and usually seduces people into watching the movie. Most commercials use this, so much so that when we hear the phrase, it sounds familiar and makes the commercial seem like most others. This phrase has become worn out over the years.
ReplyDeleteA well known shibboleth is "jk" right now in our society. Many people use it when they are trying to joke with people. For example, You look terrible today!... JK!" This type of shibboleth makes people feel bad because even if you say jk, they may still feel hurt and sad. Just because people think that they can add JK to a sentence and make a person feel better, when they really think that they can get away with saying hurtful stuff.
ReplyDeleteOne shibboleth is the word "dinner". When we hear this word, we probably all think of the steak or soup we're going to have before we start our homework, take showers, watch television and go to bed. This word did not used to have the meaning it does now. Numerous spelling errors and confusions have induced the meaning of the word. The word used to be supper to mean the last meal of the day and "dinner" was used for what we now call lunch.
ReplyDeleteThere are many phrases I that are used literally every day that I think may sometimes lose their meaning. For example, my mom (and I'm sure most other moms included) say hello when I get in the car after school and this is normally followed by "How was your day?" to which I almost reply with "good." Every. single. afternoon. The phrase is so routine and so routine is my response that it could be considered a shibboleth. Maybe every now and then this phrase will induce a conversation but most often it is just common courtesy. Another phrase just like this is used in most conversations from day to day. It is common courtesy to say "How are you?" to someone after saying hello whether you're passing in the hall or starting a conversation someplace. The response, like the phrase earlier, is almost always "good." But has this been such a routine that we don't even listen for the response? Do we actually have a desire to hear it? I'm not saying that we shouldn't ask but it sometimes seems like it has lost its meaning. While these phrases are polite and courteous, they can sometimes seem like shibboleths.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAn example of a shibboleth is "an apple a day keeps the doctor away". If you take this literally, like I do, it means that you will not have to go to the doctor if you eat one apple every day. I imagine an indolent person would use this phrase when responding to someone who is asking to be brought to the doctor. "Mom, I think I have the flu. We should go see the doctor." "Well, an apple a day keeps the doctor away!" I guess if that phrase is true then the cure to cancer grows on trees.
ReplyDeleteAn example of a shibboleth could be the slogan for krogers which could either be the right store, the right price or more value for the way you live. Both slogans try to push across a point that if you shop at krogers, you will save more money. I feel like the first slogan is more persuasive than the other because i have heard it more than the other. Its shown on many commercials and other bilboard advertisements. These are examples of shibboleths because they are slogans that distinguish the store above other grocery stores.
ReplyDeleteAn example of a shibboleth is "like a good neighbor State Farm is there." I think this modo is a positive reinforcement to all the customers that have state farm that if there ever in trouble State farm is there. And Unlike Progressive who uses State Farm as a scapegoat for their commercials, State Farm just advertises their own company and doesn't put other ones down. This is a great and convincing shibboleth in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteA shibboleth that I notice in my everyday life, is the slogan for H.E.B, "here everything's better." The name H.E.B actually stands for Herbert E. Butt. Once people realized the name of the owner, they would make fun of the store. In order to get rid of the ignominy from the owner's name, they made a new slogan saying "here everything's better" to stand for H.E.B. They make many commercials where at the end it always says "here everything's better," and they make their employees wear t-shirts saying "here everything's better." This slogan or shibboleth is very effective because the store actually tries really hard to make their grocery store better than any other grocery store. This brings people to their store believing that it is better than any other grocery store, then when they realize it's actually petty awesome they keep coming back.
ReplyDeleteA shibboleth that i notice commonly is "NationWide is on your side" and is in the commercial for nationwide insurance. This parse is made to get your attention, especially if you have just been denied additional money by a different car insurance. This makes you feel like you have someone who is "on your side". This shibboleth is like many, short and sweet and gets a good point through to you.
ReplyDelete