Stiff upper lip

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A person who is said to have a stiff upper lip displays fortitude in the face of adversity, or exercises great self-restraint in the expression of emotion. [1] [2] The phrase is most commonly heard as part of the idiom "keep a stiff upper lip". It has traditionally been used to describe an attribute of British people in remaining resolute and unemotional when faced with adversity. [1] A sign of fear is trembling of the upper lip, hence the saying keep a "stiff" upper lip. [3]

Contents

Examples

The following have often been cited as exemplifying the "stiff upper lip".

Origins

The concept reached England in the 1590s, and featured in the plays of William Shakespeare. His tragic hero Hamlet says, "There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so". [1]

The phrase became symbolic of the British people, and particularly of those who were students of the English public school system during the Victorian era, and aimed to instil a code of discipline and devotion to duty in their pupils through 'character-building' competitive sports (as immortalised in the poem "Vitai Lampada"), corporal punishments and cold showers.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Keep a stiff upper lip Phrases.org.uk. Retrieved 20 February 2011
  2. "The myth of the stiff upper lip", BBC
  3. "Stiff upper lip". World Wide Words. 19 August 2006. Retrieved 4 February 2013.
  4. "Ian Hislop's Stiff Upper Lip". Metro. 2 October 2016.

Further reading