What Does It Mean? Shut up immediately. Where Does It Come From? A British or possibly Australian phrase with no clear etymology, although widely speculated to have first appeared in the early 20th century. It has been suggested that the phrase has something to do with very early gramophone models, which had no form of volume control whatsoever, leading to booming, unpleasant noise rather than anything that resembled music. To combat this, the listener is said to have put a sock, or some form of material, into the gramophone's horn to make the noise bearable. And they say things were simpler back then?! Others believe that this is an urban legend. Considering that the first uses of the term began to appear in literature and in newspapers in around 1919, and what with gramophones being slightly more advanced at that point, the standard explanation does seem a little anachronistic. It is actually more likely that this is slang that originated in the military in the First World War, a theory backed up by the sudden appearance of the phrase in war-themed novels and newspaper articles of the time. Still, it's always a fun phrase. Variations include 'put a cork in it' and 'shove a bagel in it.'
Stephanie is a writer and free spirit who likes to pretend she's a Londoner, though strictly speaking she's from Watford. She likes books, music, elephants, and hairspray.
