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Shibboleths


gwalchmai
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A shibboleth, per Wikipedia (yeah, I know) is a "custom or tradition, usually a choice of phrasing or even a single word, that distinguishes one group of people from another. Shibboleths have been used throughout history in many societies as passwords, simple ways of self-identification, signaling loyalty and affinity, maintaining traditional segregation, or protecting from real or perceived threats."

We use many shibboleths monthly, if not daily, to distinguish "us" vs "them". The gun culture uses "clips vs magazines", "cases vs casings", "bullets vs cartridges" to get an immediate feel about strangers. 

What other shibboleths do you encounter?

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Home cooked or homemade. As apposed to just cooked. Serious cooks just say cooked or cooking. Some people think opening a can or box and warming it at home is home cooked. I can’t have a discussion about food with people like that.

Foodie is another. A Foodie or someone who says Foodie is someone who can’t cook to save their life but will criticize the hell out of other peoples cooking.

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In the firearm world I avoid anyone saying Shotty, Bang Switch, Scattergun, High-Cap, Loadout etc.

There are a few others that I judge how they are used in context. Like younger veterans who say Eye-Pro or Ear-Pro as apposed to young guys saying that to sound like vets. And it’s not just the words but how they say it.

Working at a gun range, I see a lot of obnoxious posers. They are usually the ones who will be unsafe on the range. 

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Here in the South, when yankees say "y'all" a light bulb goes off over their heads... ;) Kinda like if I went to Boston and said "wicked brutal". Also, one cannot properly ask "How bout them dawgs" unless one was weaned on Coke in a baby bottle. 

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Those that pronounce the name of a famous German automobile manufacturer as 'porsh' rather than 'porsh-ah' indicate that they are either from California and just don't know any better or they are not from California and just don't know any better.

:upeyes:

The same ilk refer to the product of another famous German automobile  manufacturer as a 'beemer.'

:upeyes:

Said individuals should be restricted in their ability to purchase an automobile to a used Yugo.

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Then say "Shibboleth," and he said "Sibboleth" for he could not pronounce it right.

Then they seized him and slaughtered him at the fords of the Jordan.

At that time 42,000 of the Ephraimites fell. -- Judges 12:6

It's a matter of life or death if you are an enemy illegal alien sneaking across the border with the wrong accent. :shooting-two-guns:

 

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Micromort:

  • A micromort (from micro- and mortality) is a unit of risk defined as a one-in-a-million chance of death. Micromorts can be used to measure the riskiness of various day-to-day activities. A microprobability is a one-in-a million chance of some event; thus, a micromort is the microprobability of death. The micromort concept was introduced by Ronald A. Howard who pioneered the modern practice of decision analysis.

    Micromorts for future activities can only be rough assessments, as specific circumstances will always have an impact. However, past historical rates of events can be used to provide a ball park, average figure.

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