Mum's the Word



Susan asked about the phrase, mum’s the word.  Mum is an inarticulate sound made with closed lips. It mimics the way that we pronounce the letter –m-. In fact, if you say an extended –m- and open your lips for just a fraction of a second, you will utter a mum.

Pursing the lips or closing them is a sign of an unwillingness to speak, and that’s what mum signifies: silence, don’t say anything, zip it. A related word is mummer, a masked person in a play, especially a mime, who says nothing so as not to break character. Originally, a mummer was any person who murmured or muttered.

Although normally silent, a mummy has nothing to do with mum.



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