Stiff upper lip

One who has a stiff upper lip displays fortitude in the face of adversity, or exercises self-restraint in the expression of emotion. The phrase is most commonly heard as part of the idiom "keep a stiff upper lip", and has traditionally been used to describe an attribute of British people, who are sometimes perceived by other cultures as being reserved; the idiom is however of American origin. The earliest known example is in a publication called the "Massachusetts Spy" for 14 June 1815: "I kept a stiff upper lip, and bought [a] license to sell my goods." [http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-sti3.htm]

English author P. G. Wodehouse's comic novel "Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves" (1963) parodies this trait, and the Eric Idle song "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" is often seen as a humorous but genuine celebration of it.

External links

* [http://www.sterlingtimes.org/memorable_images61.htm The British Stiff Upper Lip] at [http://www.sterlingtimes.co.uk Sterlingtimes Virtual Scrapbook of British Nostalgia]
* [http://skyways.lib.ks.us/poetry/juleps/stifflip.html Keep A Stiff Upper Lip] poem by J.M. Cavaness
* [http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/stiff+upper+lip.html UsingEnglish.com]