Shibboleth

[GSCole]

Perhaps there is a change in the definition of shibboleth, with the
meaning including 'password'.  Thomas Sowell, in a recent newspaper
column [19 FEB 2002, The Patriot News (Harrisburg, PA)], states that
"Back in biblical times, the word 'shibboleth' was used as a password,
because people from one side could say it easily and their enemies
couldn't.  It identified who you were and which side you were on."

A recent post to this list would be in agreement with the concept that
shibboleth = password.  And, a Google search certainly supports the
association of shibboleth and password.

My usage has tended to favor that in Merriam Webster's Collegiate, 10th
ed., in which the word password is not used.  Part of the definition --
"1.a: a word or saying used by adherents of a party, sect, or belief and
usu. regarded by others as empty of real meaning . . . (1.b.) a widely
held belief. . . ."

Perhaps an updated dictionary entry would read:  Shibboleth (see
password)?

George Cole
Shippensburg University