I don’t know flowers. Not really. But I do know that Mums are flowers and people usually get them in the fall. I don’t know why they wait for the fall, other than the fact that mums do well in cold temperatures. Do they suck at living in warm temperatures?
Anyway, I know that a mum is a flower. Which always makes me wonder about that old phrase.
Mum’s The Word
We all have heard it before, and we know what it means. It is telling someone to keep quiet about something. Keep things on the low down. This fact is not to be shared. Mum’s the word.
So. Do flowers have anything to do with it? I looked into this. And no. They do not.
Here is the historical context of the phrase.
“Mum” was actually a word back in the 14th century. It originated from the “mmm” humming sound one makes with a closed mouth. As such, “mum” referred to someone who was unwilling or unable to speak.
But apparently, the term wasn’t just an old English word. It was also an old English Christmas tradition.
Way back in the Middle Ages, “mumming” was a holiday activity. Mumming was sort of like caroling, but with silence. They say these Mummers would show up in disguises at people’s homes. They had been e invited in to dance or play games. The only catch to the whole thing is that the guests couldn’t say anything other than “mmm.”
So. No words. And guess what. Mumming was sometimes referred to as “miming.”
Anyway, back to the mummers. Since they were disguised, mummers did things that they wouldn’t normally do. They could get away with things they couldn’t while unmasked.
With that in mind, the church and the monarchy were not fans of mumming, and Henry V went so far as to threaten potential mummers with imprisonment in 1418. But mummers were gonna mum, I’ll tell you. So the practice continued through the 17th century, when it became more of a public performance than a private in-home show.
The phrase “mum’s the word,” as it’s used now, didn’t come into play until the 1700s. Apparently, when told this, someone was supposed to “Seal up your lips and give no words but mum.”
And now it means to keep quiet about something.
Don’t be quiet here. By all means, tell someone you read it here first.
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“Silence is one of the great arts of conversation.”
— Marcus Tullius Cicero
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“What we cannot speak about we must pass over in silence.”
— Ludwig Wittgenstein
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“Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise.”
— Book of Proverbs
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“Silence is the sleep that nourishes wisdom.”
— Francis Bacon
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“There are times when silence has the loudest voice.”
— Leroy Brownlow
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