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

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

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.

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 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?

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.

We would say "Had yer gob"

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

how about ' take the battery out of your keyboard'

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

Shut your Gob - NB I don't mean that literally, only translating

I'm just guessing, Granny23 would the English version be
"Shut ya gob"
Or in queens English "close your mouth"

What's "doing do ghob" mean granny23? Please translate!

Or in Scottish Gaelic = Duin do ghob

Oops too many says!

My grandpa would say often say
'awa an' bile yer heid' to any politician who happened to be in TV.
My gran would in turn say to him
Haud yer wheesht!
To which he would reply
'Ah but just look at them, a pair o' wally dugs

True, Granny23 You can say all kinds of things in regionalese. When Dh was a student, certain of his friends were targetted in a pub by a couple of English girls who were not at all to their taste. They strung them along for a while, saying flattering things like "Aye, ye're a pair o' wee hairies, are ye no?" with a winning smile. They probably went home thinking they had been greatly admired.

'Haud yer wheesht' I've not heard that in years Granny23!

I think that when someone writes "shut up" to a poster, it indicates that the person saying "shut up", is actually the one who is, quite literally, lost for words. They're unable to articulate themselves any further and in saying "shut up", they're demonstrating that they've come to the end of their own vocabulary and debating skills. I have a mental image of them standing with their hands on their hips, chin jutted forward and a big scowl on their face because they can't express themselves any further. Bit sad really in an adult .

'Haud yer wheesht' is a good Scottish phrase that covers the situation perfectly. GN HQ would not know if it were rude or not.

'Awa an bile yer heid' is perhaps a trifle too obvious and you might be warned that 'yer jaiket's oan a shoogly nail'.

Nothing compares to a foreign language or regional dialect for insulting people without them realising.

Why don't you TIPPEX!

Personally, I can't see the point of writing 'shut up' on a forum. I mean, they have shut up already. Then they've hit "post message". That's how you get to read the comment you're saying 'shut up' to.
Maybe I'm a bit weird.

Actually, I don't think, as grown ups, we should ever need to use the phrase "shut up" when posting on a forum, as we are using written words, not spoken.

I wonder what the equivalent phrase might be, "erase yourself",?

No, that's daft, perhaps it would be "please refrain from further comments on this topic, as I feel your views are too conflicting with mine" or "please stop posting on this thread, as I really must have the last word, because I'm RIGHT!"

Of course, please add your own thoughts, even if they don't concur with mine !

Tizliz me too, but at times I fail to observe that rule

Phoenix

A rosesarered by any other name would smell as sweet.Perhaps I will change my name,I rather like appledumpling.?

Alima 'shut up' should be: I mustn't trouble you to explain further.

I think that the potential problem with emoticons is that sometimes a smiley is added to a post to make it appear more benign than the words would imply!