Translated Fiction: Art
Their father could not afford to give a facelift to the house. Moreover, he could not muster enough enthusiasm to even attempt it. He must have concluded that spending on the repairs was a waste of good money. In his time he could buy a ‘mound’ of rice with that money. Life’s experience had taught him that in this world the most important thing was rice. Life could go on without other paraphernalia, but rice?
From An Historian’s Notebook: Shibbolethics
And ever since then, a shibboleth is a word that must be pronounced to demonstrate the proper belonging to a community. Without having the proper word at your disposal, you could easily come to a sticky end.