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“Stiff upper lip” is a British idiom that advises people to restrain from showing emotions that could be seen as weak. It was culturally cultivated during the British Empire and still has some cultural significance in the UK. The term can be used both as advice and descriptively to admire someone’s stoicism.
The phrase “stiff upper lip” is an idiom that describes restraint in regards to overt displays of emotion. It is particularly used with regards to emotions that could be interpreted as showing weakness, including fear and pain. The actual context for the use of the idiom is usually as advice, urging people to keep a stiff upper lip in the face of difficulty, and the term is also used descriptively. This idiom is mainly associated with the British and is in reference to a particular stoic attitude culturally cultivated during the times of the British Empire.
In Western culture, displays of emotion are often seen as a sign of weakness, and this is especially true of any emotion that hints at an underlying vulnerability. In the UK during the times of the British Empire, people were often expected to maintain a constant disposition, showing very little or no emotion when bad things happened to them. The fortitude associated with this type of disposition was considered commendable, and the term “stiff upper lip” was often used to refer to a strong stoic personality. In general, the idea of keeping the upper lip stiff still has some cultural significance in the UK, and the philosophy that nurtured this idea still has some degree of influence, though perhaps not as much as it once did.
The stiff upper lip idiom can be applied in many situations. It is sometimes used to refer to the outward display of emotion and could be used to describe an attempt to suppress emotion internally as well. For example, if someone is going into battle, the admonition to keep the upper lip stiff is often intended not only to suggest to the soldier to maintain a courageous outward disposition but also to suppress any inner feelings of fear.
Sometimes the term “stiff upper lip” is used primarily in the context of advice, such as the soldier example above, but it can also be used descriptively, usually demonstrating admiration for a person’s stoicism. For example, in a conversation about a tough older woman, a man might say, “She’s had a tough life, but she’s always kept her upper lip stiff no matter what.” When used as advice, it’s quite similar to the “keep your chin up” idiom in the way it’s used, and when used descriptively, it’s more like the term “tough as nails.”
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