Wish you'd written? The Danes you used to know copped that trick from the book of Judges. 3quarks - your proximate source - correctly calls the Danish dessert denazifaction a "shibboleth" referring not only to its status as likely legend, but also to its source, Judges 12:4-6.

Yes, but a shibboleth isn't nearly as tasty as a rødgrød med fløde. My stepfather used to talk about some movie where they make potential spies sing the National Anthem -- and if they go on to sing the second verse, they must be a Nazi spy, because no American actually knows the second verse. Wish I knew what that movie was...

Interesting--I heard the same story about the Dutch town called "Scheveningen." The Dutch and Germans pronounce "sch" differently and the Dutch would sort of leave off the "n" at the end of the word. It would probably work even better as a shibboleth because Germans would see the word and assume they could pronounce it correctly, unlike the Danish words with "ø".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scheveningen#Trivia

Went to Denmark this summer, and was told in a couple different texts on learning the language that the phrase is used for a giggle by natives wanting to play with tourists. Rather than gargling, I'd suggest trying to swallow your own tongue.

It's a pretty crazy language to learn, but we did manage to learn enough to say that we were american and were happy to meet you. Though even on that last score, the SO's local friend's mother made us say "Good to have met you" multiple times while she repeated how it should sound.

And an American tourist got on a bus we were riding one time and asked if the bus went to Kongens Nytorv (pronounced like that). Took some assistance from others before the driver acknowledged that he did indeed go to Kawns Nootorw (pronounced more like that).

Heck, I remember once in Wayne being asked for directions to Bri Win Mow Er. It took several minutes before I realized he wanted to know how to get to Bryn Mawr.

Well, up here in Massachusetts, we screen out imposters by asking them to say Billerica, Haverhill, or Leominster. (Too many outlanders already know how to say Worcester.) Then, for extra bonus, Peabody or Concord. (Those are especially tricky because the outlanders think they know how to say those.)

I don't know what movie that was, but there's an old Broadway musical called Mack and Mabel (about the film director Mack Sennett) that uses that trick. The play is set during wartime and there's a German spy. Late in the show, for some reason I can't remember, everyone sings the national anthem, and only the spy goes on to sing the second verse.

Mike, that's like the time my mother got a phone call--wrong number--from someone looking for De Vaughn furniture. Once she figured out they meant Devon, she had to cover up the mouthpiece and laugh for a bit before sorting the person out.

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