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The Book of Tells (Peter Collett)[unlocked]

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11. Foreign <strong>Tells</strong><br />

When people speak the same language it's <strong>of</strong>ten very<br />

difficult to tell where they come from simply on the basis<br />

<strong>of</strong> their vocabulary, grammar or accent. However, there is<br />

sometimes a 'shibboleth', a test that shows where they<br />

come from. <strong>The</strong> word 'shibboleth' is mentioned in the <strong>Book</strong><br />

<strong>of</strong> Judges in the Old Testament. After the Ephraimites had<br />

been defeated in battle by the Gileadite army, they tried to<br />

sneak back across the River Jordan. <strong>The</strong> Gileadites, who<br />

wanted to make sure that none <strong>of</strong> them escaped, stopped<br />

every man who was trying to cross the river and asked him<br />

if he was an Ephraimite. If he said 'no', he was asked to say<br />

'shibboleth', which was the Hebrew word for 'river'.<br />

Gileadites pronounced the word 'shibboleth', but<br />

Ephraimites said 'sibboleth'. Anyone who pronounced the<br />

word with an initial 'sh' was spared; those who used 's' were<br />

immediately executed.<br />

Talk <strong>Tells</strong><br />

<strong>The</strong>re are other ways <strong>of</strong> identifying people's nationality,<br />

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