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.
Oh right - we’d normally say “kept schtum”.
I was trying to work out what about her being a mum meant about her politics!
It’s similar in etymology to mum’s the word iirc
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:
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.
Still in use in the UK too. See for example the title of the Rowan Atkinson film “Keeping Mum”.
I’ve heard the expression a few times but never actually understood what it meant! But yeah it’s never used in everyday language.
I don’t know that I ever heard it said by anyone younger than the Boomer generation.