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Talk to the hand
Professor David Crystal
Talk to the hand. This is a phrase that became very well
known in the 1990s. It basically means ‘I’m not listening to
you’. If you want to stop somebody talking, you might say
it. ‘Talk to my hand!’ You hold your palm of your hand up
aggressively against their face as if to stop them. You’re
showing disapproval, in other words.
There’s an old phrase - ‘talk to the hand because the face
ain’t listening’. Or you sometimes hear it - ‘talk to the hand
because the ears ain’t listening’. In other words, it’s ‘stop
now!’ It’s from black English and it came into American,
young speech generally on television, especially in some of
those confrontational shows which are still around, like
‘The Jerry Springer Show’. And you often see the man in
charge of the show, or the lady in charge of the show,
holding up their hand to a guest who is going on. It’s
euphemistic way of saying ‘shut up!’ - you know - ‘I want you to stop!’
But without actually being so rude as to say ‘shut up!’ The hand itself
does the job.
Lynne Truss used it as the title of her book on lack of manners, ‘Talk to
the Hand’. It’s not a usage I would recommend anybody uses without
great care. It’s pretty confrontational. It’s pretty impolite. ‘Talk to my
hand!’ It might upset somebody. So, if you use it, be careful.
© British Broadcasting Corporation 2007
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