• @blackn1ght@feddit.uk
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        35 days ago

        Oh right - we’d normally say “kept schtum”.

        I was trying to work out what about her being a mum meant about her politics!

        • Flying Squid
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          35 days ago

          You might also see or hear “mum’s the word” as a way to tell those other than yourself to keep quiet, but that’s a bit archaic these days.

          Wikipedia says:

          Mum is a Middle English word meaning ‘silent’,[2] and may be derived from the mummer who acts without speaking.[3] Note the similar English word “mime” (Old English “mīma”, Latin “mimus”) meaning silent actor or imitator.

          I guess it’s a word that remained in use in the U.S. but fell out of favor in other parts of the English-speaking world.

          • @blackn1ght@feddit.uk
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            25 days ago

            You might also see or hear “mum’s the word” as a way to tell those other than yourself to keep quiet, but that’s a bit archaic these days.

            I’ve heard the expression a few times but never actually understood what it meant! But yeah it’s never used in everyday language.

            • Flying Squid
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              -15 days ago

              I don’t know that I ever heard it said by anyone younger than the Boomer generation.