T-learning # Idiom
Speak Like a Native

Zip it !

Choose the correct definition a, b or c.

a) Shut up !

Well done ! That’s the right answer.

zip it’ or ‘zip it up’ is used to tell someone to stop talking about something. It is an informal, and somewhat rude way of asking someone to be quiet.

As you close a bag by zipping it, by extension you close a conversation by zipping the mouth of the person talking.

French translation

Tais-toi, la ferme, camembert !

How NOT to translate : *Zippe !

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Examples in context

‘It pains me to hear my President tell four congresswomen of color who are legitimate U.S. citizens to “go back” where they came from, fix the problems and then come back and show us what has been done, if they don’t like the policies of this nation.
(…)
I wish the president would quit tweeting, but that is not likely to happen. He needs to take a hint from fictional deputy Barney Fife, of the Andy Griffith Show, and just “zip it.”’

Salisbury Post, 23 July 2019

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Bruce Lee’s daughter has a solution for how "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" director/writer Quentin Tarantino could remedy the actor/martial artist’s portrayal : Frankly speaking, he could zip it, Shannon Lee said.
“He could shut up about it,” the 50-year-old, who keeps her dad’s memory alive via efforts like the Bruce Lee Foundation and a podcast, said to Variety.’

USA Today, 15 Aug. 2019

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Everyday usage

Can you please zip it so I can concentrate on my book ?

I thought we told you to zip it !

b) Go away !

Sorry, wrong answer. Please try again.

c) Please be brief !

Sorry, wrong answer. Please try again.


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