Short, sharp shock

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The phrase "Short, sharp shock" is a phrase meaning "punishment that is quick and severe."^[1] It was most famously used in Gilbert and Sullivan's 1885 comic opera The Mikado, where it appears near the end of the Act I song, "I am so proud."

In the opera, the Mikado (the Emperor of Japan), having learned that the town of Titipu is behind on its quota of executions, has decreed that at least one resident of the town must be executed immediately. Otherwise the town will be reduced to the status of a village. In the dialogue preceding the song, three characters, Pooh-Bah, Ko-Ko and Pish-Tush, discuss which of them should be beheaded in order to save the town from "irretrievable ruin." Although Pooh-Bah's enormous "family pride" would normally prompt him to volunteer for important civic duties, he has decided to "mortify" his pride, and so he declines this undertaking. He points out that since Ko-Ko is already under sentence of death for the capital crime of flirting, Ko-Ko is the obvious choice to be beheaded. Pish-Tush helpfully notes that he had heard that beheading is not all that painful (although he does not seem certain of this).

In the last lines of the song, Pooh-Bah, Ko-Ko and Pish-Tush are contemplating "the sensation" of a short, sharp shock caused by being beheaded:

To sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock,

In a pestilential prison with a life-long lock

Awaiting the sensation of a short, sharp shock

From a cheap and chippy chopper on a big, black block.

[edit] Cultural influence

The phrase is heard as part of a spoken section in the song Us and Them by Pink Floyd from their 1973 album, The Dark Side of the Moon. The phrase is spoken by rock and roll road manager Roger The Hat:

"You know they're gonna kill ya. So, like... if you give 'em a quick short, sharp shock, they don't do it again. Dig it? I mean he got off lightly, 'cos I could've given him a thrashing - I only hit him once!

It was only a difference of right and wrong in it... I mean good manners don't cost nothing do they? 'Ey!"

This phrase also met popularity under the Thatcher government in the United Kingdom, when the then Home Secretary Willie Whitelaw introduced the "short, sharp shock" treatment at detention centers for young criminals (advertised as part of the 1979 Conservative Party Manifesto).

The phrase was used in the title of a 1990 fantasy novel, A Short, Sharp Shock by Kim Stanley Robinson.

It also appears in the title of an album, Short Sharp Shocked, by Michelle Shocked and the EP "Shortsharpshock" by Therapy?.

In the Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay, Commander Sam Vimes is noted as "all for giving criminals a short, sharp shock."

The phrase is used among stage actors (and perhaps other practitioners of vocal arts) to exercise and perfect articulation.

The phrase is used in the song "East Side Beat" by The Toasters.

Short Sharp Shock is a crossover thrash band from Liverpool, England.

The British electronic rock band (We Are) Performance have a song called "Short Sharp Shock" on their self-titled album.

The phrase 'Short Sharp Shock' is also found in the lyrics of the Billy Bragg song entitled "It Says Here" found on his 1984 album 'Brewing Up with Billy Bragg'.