A day for weird sorts of words. Today I came across the concept of shibboleths, such as the one up there in the title (pronounced CHUM-lee, for all you non-native-Brits). A shibboleth is the term for those odd dialectical words that only native speakers-- those "in the know"-- pronounce "correctly," or that, at least, one group pronounces in a distinct manner from another group's pronunciation. (Having encountered it before, I'd guessed from context that it referred to some sort of curse word or slur... on reading the correct definition, I'm not sure I was *that* far off the first time.) British English, I note, has a *lot* of these, especially in placenames and noble titles (which are, often as not, linked): the above-mentioned Cholmondeley, Greenwich, Worcestershire, Throat-Warbler Mangrove, Norfolk... oh, whoops, that one's a weird American pronunciation. ;) And to think, I *lived* in one my entire freshman year without knowing....
Ahhh, and before I forget, my second word of the day-- epithalamium. I suppose the word itself isn't so weird as the context in which I heard it. Apparently there used to be a wedding custom in early 19th century England known as "the butcher's serenade." A group of butchers' boys-- the type who chop meat, not mercenaries or somesuch-- would gather in front of a house hosting a wedding armed with their cleavers. (Yes, I know, this sounds like something from a horror flick, but wait.) They would then perform an epithalamium to the new couple on their cleavers, each being ground to produce a different note, like handbells. Sort of... wondrous and scary at the same time, I suppose, to have a group of men clanging their knives at your wedding. (Described in W. & R. Chambers' Book of Days, via Jeffrey Kacirk's Forgotten English Calendar, 2004.)
Posted by gris at September 11, 2004 10:03 PM