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For other uses, see Shut up (disambiguation).

"Shut up" is a direct command with a meaning similar to "be quiet"', but which i
s commonly perceived as an angrier and more forceful demand to stop making noise
or otherwise communicating. The phrase is probably a shortened form of "shut up
your mouth" or "shut your mouth up", and its use is generally considered rude.
Look up shut up in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Contents [hide]
1 Initial meaning and development
2 Variations
3 Objectionability
4 Alternative meanings
5 See also
6 References
Initial meaning and development[edit]
Prior to the Twentieth century, the phrase "shut up" was rarely used as an imper
ative, and had a different meaning altogether. To say that someone was "shut up"
meant that they were locked up, quarantined, or held prisoner. For example, sev
eral passages in the King James Version of the Bible instruct that if a priest d
etermines that a person shows certain symptoms of illness, "then the priest shal
l shut up him that hath the plague of the scall seven days".[1] 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.
One source has indicated this:
The use of the phrase "shut up" to signify "hold one's tongue" or "compel silenc
e" dates from the sixteenth century. Among the texts that include examples of th
e phrase "shut up" in this context are Shakespeare's King Lear, Dickens's Little
Dorrit, and Kipling's Barrack-Room Ballads.[2]
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 an
d 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:
'Altro, altro! Not Ri-' Before John Baptist could finish the name, his comrade h
ad got his hand under his chin and fiercely shut up his mouth.[3]
As early as the late 1859, use of the shorter phrase was expressly conveyed in a
literary work:
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 respec
ting parsons and hypocrites, will be told to "shut up" for a few times; but will
, if he persevere, make an impression on a workshop.[4]
One 1888 source identifies the phrase by its similarity to Shakespeare's use in
Much Ado About Nothing of "the Spanish phrase poeat palabrt, 'few words,' which i
s said to be pretty well the equivalent of our slang phrase 'shut up'".[5] The u
sage by Rudyard Kipling appears in his poem, "The Young British Soldier", publis
hed in 1892, told in the voice of a seasoned military veteran who says to the fr
esh troops, "Now all you recruities what's drafted to-day,/You shut up your rag-
box an' 'ark to my lay".[6]
Variations[edit]
More forceful forms of the phrase may be constructed by the infixation of modifi
ers, including "shut the hell up" and "shut the fuck up".[7] In shut the heck up
, heck is substituted for more aggressive modifiers. In instant messenger commun
ications, these are in turn often abbreviated to STHU and STFU, respectively. Si
milar phrases include "hush" and "shush" or "hush up" and "shush up" (which are
generally less aggressive).[7] Another common variation is "shut your mouth", so
metimes substituting "mouth" with another word conveying similar meaning, such a
s head,[7] face,[8] teeth,[7] trap,[8] yap,[9] chops,[10] crunch,[7] cake-hole (
in places including the UK[10][11] and New Zealand[12]), pie-hole (in the United
States[13]), or, more archaically, gob.[14] Another variation, shut it,[7] subs
titutes "it" for the mouth, leaving the thing to be shut to be understood by imp
lication.
Variations produced by changes in spelling, spacing, or slurring of words includ
e shaddap, shurrup,[7] shurrit,[7] shutup, and shuttup.[7] By derivation, a "shu
t-up sandwich" is another name for a punch in the mouth.[7]
Another variation, Shut the front door, was used often by Stacy London of TLC's
What Not to Wear during the shows run from 2003-2013. It was also used in an Ore
o TV commercial in 2011, prompting some parents to object.[15]
Objectionability[edit]
The objectionability of the phrase has varied over time. For example, in 1957, M
ilwaukee 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 Lar
sen felt would set a bad example for the younger listeners at that hour.[16] In
1968, the use of the phrase on the floor of the Australian Parliament drew a reb
uke that "The phrase 'shut up' is not a parliamentary term. The expression is no
t the type which one should hear in a Parliament".[17] A similar objection was r
aised in the Pakistani Parliament in a session during the 1950s.[18] More recent
ly, the cable network Gospel Music Channel, which debuted in 2004, bars the use
of the phrase along with actual profanities within its secular programming, ofte
n muting the phrase when it comes up within the dialogue.
Alternative meanings[edit]
An alternative modern spoken usage is to express disbelief, or even amazement.[1
9] When this (politer) usage is intended, the phrase is uttered with mild inflex
ion 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 comma
nd 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 charact
er of a short farce titled "Piperman's Predicaments" is commanded to "Shut up; a
nd answer plainly".[20] Another seemingly discordant use, tracing back to the 19
20s, is the phrase "shut up and kiss me", which typically expresses both impatie
nce and affection.[21]
See also[edit]
Shut your mouth (disambiguation)
Silence
Talk to the hand
References[edit]
Jump up ^ Leviticus 13:4 (King James Version).
Jump up ^ JerriAnne Boggis, Eve Allegra Raimon, Barbara Ann White, Harriet Wilso
n's New England: race, writing, and region (2007), p. 154.
Jump up ^ Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit (c. 1857), p. 125.
Jump up ^ The Christian Miscellany, and Family Visiter (1859), p. 244.
Jump up ^ Sir Henry Irving, Frank Albert Marshall, Edward Dowden, commentary on
The Works of William Shakespeare (1888), p. 252.
Jump up ^ Rudyard Kipling, "The Young British Soldier", in Barrack-Room Ballads
(1892).
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j Eric Partridge, Tom Dalzell, Terry Victor, The
New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English: J-Z (2006), p. 14
44-45.
^ Jump up to: a b Eric Partridge, Tom Dalzell, Terry Victor, The Concise New Par
tridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (2007), p. 581.
Jump up ^ Joseph Melillo, Edward M. Melillo, American Slang: Cultural Language G
uide to Living in the USA (2004), p. 367.
^ Jump up to: a b Iona Archibald Opie, Peter Opie, The Lore and Language of Scho
olchildren (2001), p. 194.
Jump up ^ John Ayto, 20th century words (2002), p.232
Jump up ^ Louis S. Leland, A Personal Kiwi-Yankee Dictionary (1984), p. 20.
Jump up ^ Eric Partridge, Tom Dalzell, Terry Victor, The New Partridge Dictionar
y of Slang and Unconventional English: J-Z (2006), p. 1478.
Jump up ^ John Stephen Farmer and W.E. Henley, Slang and its Analogues Past and
Present: Volume 3 (1893), p. 167.
Jump up ^ Nabisco in hot water over Oreo cookie ad, Knoxnews.
Jump up ^ Billboard, March 23, 1957, p. 74.
Jump up ^ Parliamentary Debates, Senate weekly Hansard (1968), Volume 70, p. 286
4.
Jump up ^ Pakistan Constituent Assembly, Debates. Official Report. (1947-1954).
(1955), p. 856.
Jump up ^ Brenda Smith Myles, Melissa L. Trautman, Ronda L. Schelvan, The Hidden
Curriculum: Practical Solutions for Understanding Unstated Rules in Social Situ
ations (2004), p. 6.
Jump up ^ "Piperman's Predicaments: A Farce, in One Act", (translated by James R
edding Ware), reported in The British Drama, Volume 5 (1871), p. 192.
Jump up ^ Cosmopolitan, Volume 77 (1924), p. 116.
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