Taking our “Here’s Why” from the paper to the blog. An explanation for why something is the way it is in the Air Force/military.
One could say this CG Seaman and “No Shave November” winner is keeping a stiff upper lip. (Courtesy http://www.uscg.mil).
Stiff upper lip: Not just an AC/DC album, but also a term meaning “to exercises great self-restraint in the expression of emotion.”
The traditional term originally described the characteristics of military officers during the two world wars, according to Judy Parkinson, author of “Spilling the Beans on the Cat’s Pajamas.”
She writes: Officers’ “upper lips were frequently concealed with a mustache, which perhaps became fashionable because it could conceal any uncontrollable trembling reflexes at the wrong moment – a quivering upper lip is often deemed a sign of emotion.”
But the phrase sprung out way before WWI in the work of “Keep a Stiff Upper Lip” by poet Phoebe Cary:
…And though hard be the task
“Keep a stiff upper lip.”
Either way, next time you’re at the point of pulling a Carrie Mathison (Homeland), remember to keep a stiff upper lip.
