How do we phrase things?, let us count the ways......

Oh dear. Now I can't get the 'Shaddap Your Face' song out of my head for some reason.

how about ' take the battery out of your keyboard'

We would say "Had yer gob"

my grandad used to say "gan tek a Lang walk off a short pier"

I don't like that saying about saying only nice things or saying nothing. It isn't always appropriate to avoid saying something one's listeners won't want to hear — home truths to thoughtless teenagers, for instance, doing stuff that causes worry and upset.

And I think forthrightness is sometimes appropriate, though not "shut up" on Gransnet. That's just rude.

I do sometimes wonder if the posters who say "shut up" to those that they disagree with on a thread, are as vocal and rude to their families and friends irl. Or is it that they have one set of manners for face to face discussions and another for when they're behind a keyboard?

Indeed, chew

Shakespeare's characters didn't hold back if their relatives annoyed pissed them off. I'm thinking of Lear calling one of his elder daughters an "embossèd carbuncle".

Sometimes an uncomfortable, 'not nice' thing needs saying.

I'll try and remember the embossed carbuncle for future use. Might try it out for size on my boss been trying to get sacked or redundant for ages and that might just do it.

cherrytree you just took me back to an evening watching to with my parents!