[Ads-l] "shut up talking"

[Baker, John]

I think it's the "about" that is crucial. I can say either "shut up about X" or "shut up talking about X."  What I cannot say is plain "shut up talking."


John Baker


Sent from my iPad

> On Oct 21, 2015, at 9:18 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> OED  shows no exx. of "Shut up!" taking a direct object.
> 
> I would have said "Shut up about blah blah" without the need to specify
> "talking."
> 
> "Shut up talking" sounds very odd to me.
> 
> (Earliest "Shut up!": 1840).
> 
> JL
> 
>> On Wed, Oct 21, 2015 at 8:19 AM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: "shut up talking"
>> 
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> 
>> Normal for me to say, or at least to shout in anger or frustration.
>> 
>> "Shut up" doesn't easily take an object. "Stop talking" has an immediacy
>> that doesn't convey the desire that the topic is not to be brought up
>> again.
>>> On Oct 20, 2015 9:29 PM, "Wilson Gray" <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>> -----------------------
>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>>> Subject:      Re: "shut up talking"
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> 
>>> On Tue, Oct 20, 2015 at 6:53 AM, Stephen Goranson <goranson at duke.edu>
>>> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> Fwiw, I've heard "shut up talking..." before.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> So have I. What should a person say, instead? "Don't talk about..."?
>> "Stop
>>> talking about..."? "Peace. Be still about... Does "Shut up talking
>>> about..." really strike people as an odd construction, even odder than
>>> "splitting" an infinitive with "not"?
>>> 
>>> 
>>> --
>>> -Wilson
>>> -----
>>> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
>>> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>>> -Mark Twain
>>> 
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>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> 
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>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
> 
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> 

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