shibboleth

February 24th, 2011

My how times have changed since I was in first grade. My first grader has moved on to using a calculator in class to manipulate large numbers. As any dutiful parent would, at night I’ve been coaching him at the 362 words he can concoct using shibboleth, the (perhaps, lost?) language consisting of the 10 letters one can symbolize using the crude numbers on a standard calculator.

Come on, admit it, even you laughed at 5318008. (For the kids at the front of the classroom, turn the face of the calculator upside down to read “boobies”)

If you, too, have a first grader, want to get a jump on 1st grade curriculum, or want to take a trip down memory lane, there are some gems, here.