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.

Gamkaskloof

Coordinates: 33°20′29″S 21°52′36″E / 33.3415°S 21.8768°E / -33.3415; 21.8768

The Gamkaskloof Afrikaans pronunciation: [xɐm·kɐs·klʊəf] (also known as 'Die Hel') is a narrow isolated valley about 20 miles long with a maximum of 600 feet wide located in the Swartberg mountain range.

History

The Gamkaskloof was discovered in the early 19th century by farmers, but the first permanent settler was Peter Swanepoel, who settled in the valley in the 1830s. Later, the Marais, Cordier and Joubert Nel Mostert families settled in the valley, growing to a community of around 160 individuals. The residents used horses to cross the Swartberg mountains to reach Prince Albert and Calitzdorp. Later a school was established, with the teacher also leading the Sunday church.

They farmed grain, vegetables, fruits, tea and tobacco, along with distilling witblits and brewing beer made from wild honey.

The residents had petitioned the government for many years to build a road into the valley. Eventually in 1962 a road was completed which led to the depopulation of the community. The children attended high schools in the nearby villages and most of them did not return to the subsistence life in the valley. The elderly retired to retirement villages outside the valley and the number of residents diminished until all but one person sold their homes to the Western Cape Nature Conservation Board in 1991.