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Just shut up and color

Posted by ESC on October 16, 2007

In Reply to: Just shut up and color posted by Smokey Stover on October 16, 2007

: : Where does: "Just shut up and color" Come from?

: Where? The U.S., I imagine. More specifically, coloring (sometimes with crayons, or within the lines) is the quintessential or emblematic activity of kindergarten. At least so I've heard, not having attended kindergarten myself. So "shut up and color" is rather like, "sit down and shut up," but meant to show that you think the person whose opinions or activities you are dismissing is on a level with a kindergartner. One of the uses of the phrase that I found interesting was the following:

: Published on Friday, September 10, 2004 by CommonDreams.org
: Shut Up and Color: The Politics of Bullying
: by Paul Rogat Loeb/

: A former Air Force Colonel I know described the Bush administration's attitude toward dissent as "shut up and color," as if we were unruly eight-year-olds.

: SS

Then there is the childhood infraction: Does not color within the lines.

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