<P> "Up to eleven", also phrased as "these go to eleven", is an idiom from popular culture, coined in the 1984 movie This Is Spinal Tap, where guitarist Nigel Tufnel proudly demonstrates an amplifier whose volume knob is marked from zero to eleven, instead of the usual zero to ten . The primary implication of the reference is one in which things that are essentially the same are seen as different, due to mislabeling or the user's misunderstanding of the underlying operating principles . A secondary reference may be anything being exploited to its utmost limits, or apparently exceeding them . Similarly, the expression "turning it up to eleven" refers to the act of taking something to an extreme . In 2002 the phrase entered the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary with the definition "up to maximum volume". </P> <P> The phrase was coined in a scene from the 1984 mockumentary / rockumentary This Is Spinal Tap by the character Nigel Tufnel, played by Christopher Guest . In this scene Nigel gives the rockumentary's director, Marty DiBergi, played by Rob Reiner, a tour of his stage equipment . While Nigel is showing Marty his Marshall guitar amplifiers, he points out a selection whose control knobs all have a highest setting of eleven, unlike standard amplifiers whose volume settings are typically numbered from 0 to 10 . Believing that this numbering increases the highest volume of the amp, he explains "It's one louder, isn't it?" When Marty asks why the ten setting is not simply set to be louder, Nigel hesitates before responding blankly again "These go to eleven ." </P>

Where did turn it up to 11 come from