And the Gileadites took the passages of Jordan before the Ephraimites: and it was so, that when those Ephraimites which were escaped said, Let me go over; that the men of Gilead said unto him, Art thou an Ephraimite? If he said, Nay;

Then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth: for he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him, and slew him at the passages of Jordan: and there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand.

— Judges 12:5-6

Thus the original meaning of the word “shibboleth”: a password that people from one side can pronounce but their enemies can’t.

The word has since taken on a more general meaning as not necessarily a password, but a custom or practice that separates the good guys from the bad guys, the insiders from the outsiders.

Continue reading Shibboleths

[James] Dean died before he could fail, before he lost his hair or his boyish figure, before he grew up.

— Donald Spoto, Rebel: The Life and Legend of James Dean

One must discontinue being feasted upon when one tasteth best; that is known by those who want to be long loved.

— Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra

Many die too late, and some die too early. Yet strange soundeth the precept: ‘Die at the right time!’

— Ibid.