Shut up

"Shut up" is a direct command with a meaning very similar to "be quiet"', but which is commonly perceived as a more forceful command to stop making noise or otherwise communicating, such as talking. The phrase is probably a shortened form of "shut up your mouth" or "shut your mouth up". Its use is generally considered rude and impolite.

Initial meaning and development

Before the twentieth century, the phrase "shut up" was rarely used as an imperative, and had a different meaning altogether. To say that someone was "shut up" meant that they were locked up, quarantined, or held prisoner. For example, several passages in the King James Version of the Bible instruct that if a priest determines that a person shows certain symptoms of illness, "then the priest shall shut up him that hath the plague of the scall seven days". This meaning was also used in the sense of closing something, such as a business, and it is also from this use that the longer phrase "shut up your mouth" likely originated.

Mandarin Chinese

Mandarin (ⁱ/ˈmændᵊrɪn/; simplified Chinese: 官话; traditional Chinese: 官話; pinyin: Guānhuà; literally: "speech of officials") is a group of related varieties of Chinese spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. Because most Mandarin dialects are found in the north, the group is also referred to as the "northern dialect(s)". When the Mandarin group is taken as one language, as is often done in academic literature, it has more native speakers (nearly a billion) than any other language.

A northeastern-dialect speaker and a southwestern-dialect speaker may have difficulty communicating, except through the standard language. Nonetheless, there is much less variation across the huge Mandarin area than between the non-Mandarin varieties of southeast China. This is attributed to the greater ease of travel and communication in the North China Plain compared to the more mountainous south, combined with the relatively recent spread of Mandarin to frontier areas.

The capital has been within the Mandarin area for most of the last millennium, making these dialects very influential. Some form of Mandarin has served as a national lingua franca since the 14th century. In the early 20th century, a standard form based on the Beijing dialect, with elements from other Mandarin dialects, was adopted as the national language. Standard Chinese, which is also referred to as "Mandarin", is the official language of the People's Republic of China and Taiwan (Republic of China) and one of the four official languages of Singapore. It is also one of the most frequently used varieties of Chinese among Chinese diaspora communities internationally.

Yuvan Shankar Raja

Yuvan Shankar Raja (born 31 August 1979) is an Indian singer-songwriter, film score and soundtrack composer, and occasional lyricist from Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He has predominantly scored music for Tamil films. The youngest son of noted film composer Ilaiyaraaja, he began his musical career in 1996, at age 16, when he composed the film score for Aravindhan. After initial struggle, he made his big break with the Thulluvadho Ilamai soundtrack (2001), and evolved as one of Tamil cinema's most sought-after composers by the mid-2000s.

Within a span of 15 years, Yuvan Shankar Raja has worked on over 100 films. Considered a versatile composer, he often strives for different and innovative music and has explored and used elements of various genres in his compositions that range from folk and R&B to techno and heavy metal. He is particularly known for his use of western music elements and often credited with having introduced Hip hop to the Tamil film and music industry and having started the "era of remixes" in Tamil Nadu. Being popular among the younger generation, he is frequently referred to as the "Rockstar", and the "Youth Icon of Tamil Film Music". In addition, Yuvan Shankar Raja is recognized for his background score in films (re-recording) that have fetched him accolades among critics.

Shut Up and Dance

Shut Up and Dance may refer to:

Taraji P. Henson

Taraji Penda Henson (/təˈrɑːdʒi/ tə-RAH-jee; born September 11, 1970) is an American actress and singer. Henson studied acting at Howard University and began her Hollywood career in guest-roles on several television shows before making her breakthrough in Baby Boy (2001). In 2005, she starred in Hustle & Flow and played Queenie in David Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), for which she received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. In 2010, she appeared in the comedy Date Night and co-starred in the remake of The Karate Kid. In 2012, Henson was in the large ensemble cast film Think Like A Man and reprised her role in its sequel.

Henson has also had an extensive career in television, having been a regular cast member on series such as The Division, Boston Legal and Eli Stone. From 2011 to 2013, she co-starred as Detective Jocelyn Carter in the CBS drama Person of Interest. She starred in the leading role of Tiffany Rubin, in the Lifetime Movie Network film Taken from Me: The Tiffany Rubin Story, for which she received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie. As of 2015, she stars as Cookie Lyon on the FOX drama series Empire, for which she won the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actress in a Drama Series, and Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama in 2016, and for which she was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.