Stiff upper lip
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This article is about the idiom. For the AC/DC album, see Stiff Upper Lip. For other uses, see Stiff upper lip (disambiguation).
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One who has a stiff upper lip displays fortitude in the face of adversity, or exercises self-restraint in the expression of emotion. The phrase is most commonly heard as part of the idiom keep a stiff upper lip, and has traditionally been used to describe an attribute of English people, who are sometimes perceived by other cultures as being reserved. The idiom seems however of American origin; its earliest known example is in a publication called the "Massachusetts Spy" for 14 June 1815: "I kept a stiff upper lip, and bought [a] license to sell my goods."[1]
