Stiff upper lip

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This article is about the idiom. For the AC/DC album, see Stiff Upper Lip. For other uses, see Stiff upper lip (disambiguation).

One who has a stiff upper lip displays fortitude in the face of adversity, or exercises great self-restraint in the expression of emotion.[1] The phrase is most commonly heard as part of the idiom "keep a stiff upper lip", and has traditionally been used to describe an attribute of British people (particularly upper-middle and upper class), who are sometimes perceived by other cultures as being unemotional.[1] A sign of weakness is trembling of the upper lip, hence the saying keep a stiff upper lip. When a person's upper lip begins to tremble, it is one of the first signs that the person is scared or shaken by experiencing deep emotion.[2]

Poems that feature a memorable evocation of Victorian stoicism and a stiff upper lip include Rudyard Kipling's "If—" and W. E. Henley's "Invictus".[3] The phrase became symbolic of the British people, and particularly of those who were products of the English public school system, during the Victorian era.[3] However the idiom may be of American origin; its earliest known example is in a publication called the Massachusetts Spy for 14 June 1815: "I kept a stiff upper lip, and bought [a] license to sell my goods."[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Keep a stiff upper lip Phrases.org.uk. Retrieved February 20, 2011
  2. ↑ "Stiff upper lip". World Wide Words. 2006-08-19. Retrieved 2013-02-04. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Spartans and Stoics - Stiff Upper Lip - Icons of England Retrieved February 20, 2011
  4. ↑ "Michael Quinion writes on international English from a British viewpoint". World Wide Words. 2006-08-19. Retrieved 2013-02-04. 

External links

Look up stiff upper lip in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
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