keep a civil tongue in one's head

English

Alternative forms

• keep a civil tongue
• keep a civil tongue in one's mouth
• put a civil tongue in one's head
• put a civil tongue in one's mouth

Pronunciation

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Verb

keep a civil tongue in one's head (third-person singular simple present keeps a civil tongue in one's head, present participle keeping a civil tongue in one's head, simple past and past participle kept a civil tongue in one's head)

1. (idiomatic) To maintain a polite manner of speaking.
   • 1875, Horatio Alger, chapter 20, in Herbert Carter's Legacy:

     "I've had enough of that kind of talk. I don't intend to submit to your impudence. When you speak to me keep a civil tongue in your head."

   • 1914, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter 13, in Tarzan of the Apes:

     "Keep a civil tongue in your head," cried the young man, his face paling in anger, at the insulting tone of the sailor.

   • 1943 March 25, Dorothy Dix, “Dorothy Dix”, in Spartanburg Herald, retrieved 24 January 2016, page 5:

     If every high-tempered man knew that his wife would leave him if he dared curse her because the coffee was cold, or dinner fifteen minutes late, he would keep a civil tongue in his head.

   • 2012 January 15, Nick Cohen, “Viscount Astor, you really are a class apart”, in Guardian, UK, retrieved 23 January 2016:

     After Helena Bonham Carter, the great-granddaughter of Herbert Asquith, complained that for all her advantages and beauty directors would not hire her because she was not "trendily working class", an exasperated Kathy Burke found the effort of keeping a civil tongue in her head too much to bear. "As a lifelong member of the non-pretty working classes," she told Time Out, "I would like to say to Helena Bonham Carter: shut up you stupid cunt."