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'{{other uses}} {{redirect|Be Quiet|the song by Pitbull|Be Quiet (song)}} "'''Shut up'''" is a [[imperative mood|direct command]] with a meaning very similar to "be quiet"', but which is commonly perceived as a more forceful command to stop making noise or otherwise communicating, such as talking. The phrase is probably a shortened form of "'''shut up your mouth'''" or "'''shut your mouth up'''". Its use is generally considered [[rude]] and impolite. ==Initial meaning and development== Before the twentieth century, the phrase "shut up" was rarely used as an imperative, and had a different meaning altogether. To say that someone was "shut up" meant that they were locked up, [[quarantine]]d, or held [[Incarceration|prisoner]]. For example, several passages in the [[King James Version]] of the [[Bible]] instruct that if a priest determines that a person shows certain symptoms of illness, "then the priest shall shut up him that hath the plague of the scall seven days".<ref>Leviticus 13:4 (King James Version).</ref> This meaning was also used in the sense of closing something, such as a business, and it is also from this use that the longer phrase "shut up your mouth" likely originated. '''LEO SALAS REALLY NEEDS TO SHUT UP!''' So sayith his co-workers! One source has indicated this: {{blockquote|The use of the phrase "shut up" to signify "hold one's tongue" or "compel silence" dates from the sixteenth century. Among the texts that include examples of the phrase "shut up" in this context are [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]]'s ''[[King Lear]]'', [[Charles Dickens|Dickens]]'s ''[[Little Dorrit]]'', and [[Rudyard Kipling|Kipling]]'s ''[[Barrack-Room Ballads]]''.<ref>JerriAnne Boggis, Eve Allegra Raimon, Barbara Ann White, ''Harriet Wilson's New England: race, writing, and region'' (2007), p. 154.</ref>}} However, Shakespeare's use of the phrase in ''King Lear'' is limited to a reference to the shutting of doors at the end of Scene II, with the characters of Regan and Cornwall both advising the King, "Shut up your doors". The earlier meaning of the phrase, to close something, is widely used in ''Little Dorrit'', but is used in one instance in a manner which foreshadows the modern usage: {{blockquote|'Altro, altro! Not Ri-' Before John Baptist could finish the name, his comrade had got his hand under his chin and fiercely '''shut up''' his mouth.<ref name="Charles Dickens 1857 p. 125">Charles Dickens, ''[[Little Dorrit]]'' (c. 1857), p. 125.</ref>}} In another instance in that work, the phrase "shut it up" is used to indicate the resolution of a matter: {{blockquote|Now, I'll tell you what it is, and this shuts it up...<ref name="Charles Dickens 1857 p. 125"/>}} The ''The Routledge Dictionary of Historical Slang'' cites an 1858 lecture on slang as noting that "when a man... holds his peace, he shuts up."<ref>Eric Partridge, ''The Routledge Dictionary of Historical Slang'' (1973), p. 4797.</ref> As early as 1859, use of the shorter phrase was expressly conveyed in a literary work: {{blockquote|A sneering infidel, who uses Scripture for a jest-book, raves about "cant," and retails and details every inconsistency, real or imaginary, that he hears respecting parsons and hypocrites, will be told to "'''shut up'''" for a few times; but will, if he persevere, make an impression on a workshop.<ref>''The Christian Miscellany, and Family Visiter'' (1859), p. 244.</ref>}} One 1888 source identifies the phrase by its similarity to Shakespeare's use in ''[[Much Ado About Nothing]]'' of "the Spanish phrase poeat palabrât, 'few words,' which is said to be pretty well the equivalent of our slang phrase 'shut up'".<ref>Sir Henry Irving, Frank Albert Marshall, Edward Dowden, commentary on ''The Works of William Shakespeare'' (1888), p. 252.</ref> The usage by Rudyard Kipling appears in his poem "The Young British Soldier", published in 1892, told in the voice of a seasoned military veteran who says to the fresh troops, "Now all you recruities what's drafted to-day,/You shut up your rag-box an' 'ark to my lay".<ref>Rudyard Kipling, "The Young British Soldier", in ''[[Barrack-Room Ballads]]'' (1892).</ref> ==Variations== More forceful forms of the phrase may be constructed by the [[Expletive infixation|infixation]] of modifiers, sometimes vulgar, including "'''shut the hell up'''" and "'''shut the fuck up'''".<ref name="NP2">Eric Partridge, Tom Dalzell, Terry Victor, ''The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English: J-Z'' (2006), p. 1444-45.</ref> In '''shut the heck up''', [[Minced oath|heck]] is substituted for more aggressive modifiers. In [[instant messenger communications]], these are in turn often abbreviated to '''STHU''' and '''STFU''', respectively. Similar phrases include "'''hush'''" and "'''shush'''" or "'''hush up'''" and "'''shush up'''" (which are generally less aggressive).<ref name="NP2"/> Another common variation is "'''shut your mouth'''", sometimes substituting "mouth" with another word conveying similar meaning, such as head,<ref name="NP2"/> face,<ref name="Partridge">Eric Partridge, Tom Dalzell, Terry Victor, ''The Concise New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English'' (2007), p. 581.</ref> teeth,<ref name="NP2"/> trap,<ref name="Partridge"/> yap,<ref>Joseph Melillo, Edward M. Melillo, ''American Slang: Cultural Language Guide to Living in the USA'' (2004), p. 367.</ref> chops,<ref name="Lore">Iona Archibald Opie, Peter Opie, ''The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren'' (2001), p. 194.</ref> crunch,<ref name="NP2"/> cake-hole (in places including the UK<ref name="Lore"/><ref>John Ayto, ''20th century words'' (2002), p.232</ref> and New Zealand<ref>Louis S. Leland, ''A Personal Kiwi-Yankee Dictionary'' (1984), p. 20.</ref>), pie-hole (in the United States<ref>Eric Partridge, Tom Dalzell, Terry Victor, ''The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English: J-Z'' (2006), p. 1478.</ref>), or, more archaically, gob.<ref>John Stephen Farmer and W.E. Henley, ''Slang and its Analogues Past and Present: Volume 3'' (1893), p. 167.</ref> Another variation, '''shut it''',<ref name="NP2"/> substitutes "it" for the mouth, leaving the thing to be shut to be understood by implication. Variations produced by changes in spelling, spacing, or slurring of words include '''shaddap''', '''shurrup''',<ref name="NP2"/> '''shurrit''',<ref name="NP2"/> '''shutup''', and '''shuttup'''.<ref name="NP2"/> By derivation, a "shut-up sandwich" is another name for a punch in the mouth.<ref name="NP2"/> A [[dysphemism]], '''shut the front door''', was used often by [[Stacy London]] of TLC's ''[[What Not to Wear (U.S. TV series)|What Not to Wear]]'' during the U.S. show's run from 2003–13. It was also used in an [[Oreo]] commercial on American TV in 2011, prompting some parents to object.<ref>[http://blogs.knoxnews.com/silence/archives/2011/04/nabisco_in_hot.shtml Nabisco in hot water over Oreo cookie ad], Knoxnews.</ref> It has entered popular usage.{{Citation needed|date=June 2015}} A similar phrase in Spanish, ''[[¿Por qué no te callas?]]'' ({{lang-en|"Why don't you shut up?"}}), was said by [[Juan Carlos I of Spain|King Juan Carlos I]] of Spain to Venezuelan president [[Hugo Chávez]], in response to repeated interruptions by Chávez at a 2007 diplomatic conference.<ref name=ShutUpBBC>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7089131.stm |title=Shut up, Spain king tells Chavez |date=10 November 2007 |publisher=[[BBC]] |accessdate=9 November 2007}}</ref> The blunt comment from one head of state to another surprised many, and received "general applause".<ref name=TimeRebuke>{{cite news|author=Padgett, Tim| url=http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1682967,00.html?imw=Y|title=Behind the King's Rebuke to Chávez|accessdate=14 November 2007|work=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|date=12 November 2007}}</ref> ==Objectionability== The objectionability of the phrase has varied over time. For example, in 1957, Milwaukee morning radio personality Bob "Coffeehead" Larsen banned the song ''Mama Look-a-boo-boo'' from his show for its repeated inclusion of the phrase, which Larsen felt would set a bad example for the younger listeners at that hour.<ref>''Billboard'', March 23, 1957, p. 74.</ref> In 1968, the use of the phrase on the floor of the Australian Parliament drew a rebuke that "The phrase 'shut up' is not a parliamentary term. The expression is not the type which one should hear in a Parliament".<ref>Parliamentary Debates, ''Senate weekly Hansard'' (1968), Volume 70, p. 2864.</ref> A similar objection was raised in the Pakistani Parliament in a session during the 1950s.<ref>Pakistan Constituent Assembly, ''Debates. Official Report. (1947-1954).'' (1955), p. 856.</ref> More recently, the cable network [[Gospel Music Channel]], which debuted in 2004, bars the use of the phrase along with actual profanities within its secular programming, often muting the phrase when it comes up within the dialogue. ==Alternative meanings== An alternative modern spoken usage is to express disbelief, or even amazement.<ref>Brenda Smith Myles, Melissa L. Trautman, Ronda L. Schelvan, ''The Hidden Curriculum: Practical Solutions for Understanding Unstated Rules in Social Situations'' (2004), p. 6.</ref> When this (politer) usage is intended, the phrase is uttered with mild inflexion to express surprise. The phrase is also used in an ironic fashion, when the person demanding the action simultaneously demands that the subject of the command speak, as in "shut up and answer the question". The usage of this phrase for comedic effect traces at least as far back as the 1870s, where the title character of a short [[farce]] titled "Piperman's Predicaments" is commanded to "Shut up; and answer plainly".<ref>"Piperman's Predicaments: A Farce, in One Act", (translated by [[James Redding Ware]]), reported in '' The British Drama, Volume 5'' (1871), p. 192.</ref> Another seemingly discordant use, tracing back to the 1920s, is the phrase "shut up and kiss me", which typically expresses both impatience and affection.<ref>''[[Cosmopolitan (magazine)|Cosmopolitan]]'', Volume 77 (1924), p. 116.</ref> ==See also== {{wiktionary}} * [[Shut your mouth (disambiguation)]] * [[Silence]] * [[Talk to the hand]] ==References== {{reflist|30em}} [[Category:Slang]] [[Category:English-language idioms]] [[Category:Bullying]]'