If you are bored and there are German-speaking people around, try to get them to say the English word “squirrel.” They may try valiantly to do so, but most will be unable — for the simple reason that the word contains a number of sounds that either don’t exist in the German language or never appear in that order. The soft “w” sound that the “uir” in squirrel involves, for example, doesn’t exist — w is exclusively pronounced as a hard V (conversely, the letter “v” is pronounced like an F, so Volkswagen sounds like Folksvagen). There are YouTube videos of German people trying to say squirrel and failing hilariously.
I’ve come across a number of stories over the years about how the word squirrel was used during World War II as a “shibboleth” or a word that could reveal whether someone was a German spy, since the vast majority of Germans would be unable to say it properly. So supposedly English speakers would try to work the word into a conversation to see if the suspected spy could say it. According to one report I came across, this story was repeated by a former World War II warrant officer in the US Army, but I’ve been unable to prove that it’s true (Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson may have started this).
So far, I’ve been unable to confirm whether the story is true or not. If you know of someone who can confirm it, please let me know! Interestingly enough, the German word for the animal that English speakers call a squirrel is Eichhörnchen, which is extremely difficult for English speakers to say, as this video proves. So perhaps both sides during World War II could have used their language’s term for the animal as a secret spy test!
