<P> A sneering infidel, who uses Scripture for a jest - book, raves about "cant," and retails and details every inconsistency, real or imaginary, that he hears respecting parsons and hypocrites, will be told to "shut up" for a few times; but will, if he persevere, make an impression on a workshop . </P> <P> One 1888 source identifies the phrase by its similarity to Shakespeare's use in Much Ado About Nothing of "the Spanish phrase poeat palabrât,' few words,' which is said to be pretty well the equivalent of our slang phrase' shut up"'. The usage by Rudyard Kipling appears in his poem "The Young British Soldier", published in 1892, told in the voice of a seasoned military veteran who says to the fresh troops, "Now all you recruities what's drafted to - day, / You shut up your rag - box an' ' ark to my lay". </P> <P> More forceful and sometimes vulgar forms of the phrase may be constructed by the infixation of modifiers, including "shut the hell up" and "shut the fuck up". In shut the heck up, heck is substituted for more aggressive modifiers . In instant messenger communications, these are in turn often abbreviated to STHU and STFU, respectively . Similar phrases include "hush" and "shush" or "hush up" and "shush up" (which are generally less aggressive). Another common variation is "shut your mouth", sometimes substituting "mouth" with another word conveying similar meaning, such as head, face, teeth, trap, yap, chops, crunch, cake - hole (in places including the UK and New Zealand), pie - hole (in the United States), or, more archaically, gob . Another variation, shut it, substitutes "it" for the mouth, leaving the thing to be shut to be understood by implication . </P> <P> Variations produced by changes in spelling, spacing, or slurring of words include shaddap, shurrup, shurrit, shutup, and shuttup . By derivation, a "shut - up sandwich" is another name for a punch in the mouth . On The King of Queens, Doug Heffernan (the main character played by Kevin James) is known for saying shutty, which is also a variation of the phrase that has since been used by the show's fans . </P>

Where did the term shut up come from