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Useful Information No 1: Shibboleths

 

The Bible, Authorized Version, Judges 12:6: Then they said said unto him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth: for he could not frame to pronounce it right.

Do you say ‘Aitch’ or ‘Haitch’? Those who say ‘Aitch’ deplore the use of ‘Haitch’, and go a long way towards despising those who say it. They express their contempt in vicious terms. Those who say ‘Haitch’ don’t seem to think that there is an issue worth discussing.

‘Aitch’ is a modern shibboleth – a usage that, in the mainland Great Britain of today, marks you out as ‘not one of us’ if you get it wrong. Yes, it’s the British class-war again, an extension of the U and non-U debate. Other shibboleths that mark you out as being of this class or that class can be observed in the syllable you choose to emphasize in the articulation of:

  • controversy

  • harass

  • irrevocable

  • irrefutable

  • lamentable

Do these distinctions matter? They shouldn’t matter at all, if the speaker’s meaning is clear. But they matter to some people, and they might matter to you if you want to be thought of as ‘one of us’.