Monday, 31 January 2011

Wakey, wakey.

I have just read that there is a campaign called "Pipedown"to get rid of mindless "muzak" being played in shops etc. I hope it also applies to being "on hold" on the phone.
The report ends with the words "put a sock in it". Did this expression come about when a holiday-maker at Butlins could not find his socks? He later discovered that his brother had stuffed the socks into the loudspeaker outside their chalet.

1 comment:

  1. Your question sent me to Google. The phrase first appeared in 1919. There's speculation that it was a way to control the volume in early gramophones - i.e. by stuffing a sock into the horn. I prefer your theory though!

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