Short, sharp shock

<h2 id="origin">Origin</h2>
<a href="/facts/Mary_I_of_England/smBAdhhD">Mary I of England</a> used the phrase in 1555 to refer to what she hoped would be a brief and effective use of brutality to persuade the populace to return to Catholicism by <a href="/facts/Marian_persecutions/UW5QhoPG">publicly burning a small number of visible Protestant heretics</a>, rather than making a larger more systemic purge.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3">3</a>
<a href="/facts/John_Conington/EdfgECrP">John Conington</a>'s 1870 translation of the <a href="/facts/Satires_(Horace)/h16m96uu">First Satire of Horace</a> includes the following lines:

<blockquote>
Yon soldier's lot is happier, sure, than mine:
One short, sharp shock, and presto! all is done.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4">4</a>

</blockquote>
<h2 id="the-mikado">The Mikado</h2>

In Act I of the 1885 <a href="/facts/Gilbert_and_Sullivan/C7M2aW3j">Gilbert and Sullivan</a> opera <a href="/facts/The_Mikado/WV5WszrP">The Mikado</a>, the <a href="/facts/Emperor_of_Japan/efBDe6cj">Emperor of Japan</a>, having learned the town of Titipu is behind on its quota of executions, has decreed that at least one beheading must occur immediately. Three government officials, Pooh-Bah, Ko-Ko and Pish-Tush, discuss which of them should be beheaded to save the town from ruin. Pooh-Bah says that, although his enormous pride would normally prompt him to volunteer for such an important civic duty, he has decided to "mortify" his pride, and so he declines this heroic undertaking. He points out that Ko-Ko is already under sentence of death for the <a href="/facts/Capital_punishment/4pbmeUIb">capital</a> crime of flirting, and so Ko-Ko is the obvious choice to be beheaded. The three characters then sing the song "I Am So Proud". In the last lines of the song, they contemplate "the sensation" of the "short, sharp shock" caused by being beheaded:

<blockquote>
To sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark <a href="/facts/Prison_cell/u1hmkDeS">dock</a>,
In a pestilential prison, with a <a href="/facts/Life_imprisonment/IMr3MIwe">lifelong lock</a>,
Awaiting the sensation of a short, sharp shock,
From a cheap and chippy <a href="/facts/Executioner%2527s_sword/0470NPvX">chopper</a> on a big black block!<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5">5</a>

</blockquote>
<h2 id="in-popular-culture">In popular culture</h2>
<h3>Songs and albums</h3>
The phrase is spoken by <a href="/facts/Road_crew/PDUnFyyy">roadie</a> Roger Manifold in the <a href="/facts/Pink_Floyd/a3U8PyeV">Pink Floyd</a> song "<a href="/facts/Us_and_Them_(song)/CFUxX5mA">Us and Them</a>" on the band's 1973 album, <a href="/facts/The_Dark_Side_of_the_Moon/13eCxtkd">The Dark Side of the Moon</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6">6</a>
Short Sharp Shock is the name of a 1984 album by <a href="/facts/Chaos_UK/CPvN3kca">Chaos UK</a>. It also appears in the title of an album, <a href="/facts/Short_Sharp_Shocked/vguq00gg">Short Sharp Shocked</a>, by <a href="/facts/Michelle_Shocked/lCW9naT0">Michelle Shocked</a> and the EP "<a href="/facts/Shortsharpshock/5B4Vsv2j">Shortsharpshock</a>" by <a href="/facts/Therapy%253F/I9Led2QW">Therapy?</a>. <a href="/facts/Short_Sharp_Shock_(band)/t87PHd2j">Short Sharp Shock</a> is the name of a crossover thrash band from <a href="/facts/Liverpool/kTqATlxg">Liverpool</a>, England. The phrase is used in the song "East Side Beat" by <a href="/facts/The_Toasters/EFc3HAj5">the Toasters</a>, and in the 1980 song <a href="/facts/Stand_Down_Margaret/oeDnVDCl">Stand Down Margaret</a> by <a href="/facts/The_Beat_(British_band)/VMgr8tyS">the Beat</a>. It can also be found in the lyrics of a <a href="/facts/Billy_Bragg/DybQYMCc">Billy Bragg</a> song entitled "It Says Here"<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7">7</a> found on his 1984 album <a href="/facts/Brewing_Up_with_Billy_Bragg/4mSg9MQR">Brewing Up with Billy Bragg</a> and of a <a href="/facts/They_Might_Be_Giants/b2EySlSs">They Might Be Giants</a> song entitled "Circular Karate Chop" on their 2013 album <a href="/facts/Nanobots_(album)/6vUolKKx">Nanobots</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8">8</a>

<h3>Literature</h3>
In literature, the phrase is used in the title of a 1990 fantasy novel, <a href="/facts/A_Short%2c_Sharp_Shock/sy1UQsV8">A Short, Sharp Shock</a> by <a href="/facts/Kim_Stanley_Robinson/gCpUBuSY">Kim Stanley Robinson</a>. In the 1996 fantasy novel by <a href="/facts/Terry_Pratchett/N7RAL6zr">Terry Pratchett</a>, <a href="/facts/Feet_of_Clay_(novel)/pM8sndup">Feet of Clay</a>, police commander <a href="/facts/Sam_Vimes/EPkP9wRG">Sam Vimes</a> is "all for giving criminals a short, sharp shock", meaning electrocution.

<h2 id="uk-politics">UK politics</h2>
Since Gilbert and Sullivan used the phrase in The Mikado, "short, sharp shock" has been used in political discourse in the UK.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9">9</a> The phrase met renewed popularity with respect to government policy on young offenders pursued by the <a href="/facts/Premiership_of_Margaret_Thatcher/NaGMyWjP">Conservative government of 1979–1990 under Margaret Thatcher</a>,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10">10</a> having appeared in the 1979 Conservative Policy manifesto, which promised that the party would "experiment with a tougher regime as a short, sharp shock for young criminals".<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:11" href="#fn:11">11</a> These policies led to the enactment of the <a href="/facts/Criminal_Justice_Act/Kv3r3JDE">Criminal Justice Acts of 1982</a> and <a href="/facts/Criminal_Justice_Act_1988/9DtC8rWN">1988</a> which, among other reforms, replaced <a href="/facts/Borstal/JeXnVdyh">borstals</a> with <a href="/facts/Her_Majesty%2527s_Young_Offender_Institution/S3U1Nz4T">youth detention centres</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:12" href="#fn:12">12</a> The "short, sharp shock" programme had no effect on reoffending, with more than half of offenders being convicted again within a year and young offenders being released back into the community "stronger, fitter, wiser and meaner".<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:13" href="#fn:13">13</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:14" href="#fn:14">14</a> The policy was abandoned.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:15" href="#fn:15">15</a>

<h2 id="sources">Sources</h2>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Ian_Bradley/paURP59J">Bradley, Ian</a> (1996). <a href="https://archive.org/details/completeannotate00sull">The Complete Annotated Gilbert and Sullivan</a>. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 0-19-816503-X.</li></ul>
<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>
<ul><li><a href="https://www.gsarchive.net/mikado/webopera/mk110.html">Midi file and lyrics of "I Am so Proud" from The Mikado </a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.staffspasttrack.org.uk/exhibit/crimeandpunishment/imagepage/shock.htm">Example of the phrase being employed in connection with the treatment of prisoners</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1">short, sharp shock Collins Dictionary. Retrieved: 20 August 2012. <a href="https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/short-sharp-shock" target="_blank">https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/short-sharp-shock</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:2">Bradley, pp. 589–590 <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:3">Solly, Meilan. "The Myth of "Bloody Mary", Smithsonian, 12 March 2020, accessed 29 August 2021 <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/myth-bloody-mary-180974221" target="_blank">https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/myth-bloody-mary-180974221</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:4">Satires of Horace, translated by John Coningsby (1870), London: Bell and Daldy <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:5">Gilbert, W. S. The Mikado, libretto, p. 16, Oliver Ditson Company <a href="/wiki/W._S._Gilbert" target="_blank">/wiki/W._S._Gilbert</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:6">Longfellow, Matthew. "Pink Floyd: The Making of Dark Side of the Moon" (1997), documentary film <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:7">"Billy Bragg – It Says Here Lyrics", musicsonglyrics.com, accessed 24 February 2015 <a href="http://www.musicsonglyrics.com/B/billybragglyrics/billybraggitsaysherelyrics.htm" target="_blank">http://www.musicsonglyrics.com/B/billybragglyrics/billybraggitsaysherelyrics.htm</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:8">"They Might Be Giants – Circular Karate Chop Lyrics", Warner/chappell Music, accessed 24 February 2015 <a href="http://artists.letssingit.com/they-might-be-giants-lyrics-circular-karate-chop-3vbvfjf" target="_blank">http://artists.letssingit.com/they-might-be-giants-lyrics-circular-karate-chop-3vbvfjf</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:9">Green, Edward. "Ballads, songs and speeches", BBC News, 20 September 2004, accessed 30 September 2009 <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/3634126.stm" target="_blank">http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/3634126.stm</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:10">"Tories on Young Criminals 1984", interview of John Wheeler on TV AM, uploaded to YouTube on 14 August 2011, accessed 24 February 2015 <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObAJjZuXhGE" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObAJjZuXhGE</a> <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:11">"Conservative General Election Manifesto 1979", Margaret Thatcher Foundation, 11 April 1979, accessed 24 February 2015 <a href="http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/110858" target="_blank">http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/110858</a> <a href="#fnref:11" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:12">Grimwood, Gabrielle Garton and Pat Strickland. "Young offenders: What next?", UK House of Commons briefing paper, 23 October 2013, accessed 24 February 2015 <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/SN05896.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/SN05896.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:12" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:13">David, Scott; Helen, Codd (1 May 2010). Controversial Issues in Prisons. McGraw-Hill Education (UK). p. 60. ISBN 978-0-335-22303-9. <a href="978-0-335-22303-9" target="_blank">978-0-335-22303-9</a> <a href="#fnref:13" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:14">Jones, Bill (12 June 1999). Political Issues in Britain Today. Manchester University Press. p. 238. ISBN 978-0-7190-5432-7. <a href="978-0-7190-5432-7" target="_blank">978-0-7190-5432-7</a> <a href="#fnref:14" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:15">Jones, Bill (12 June 1999). Political Issues in Britain Today. Manchester University Press. p. 238. ISBN 978-0-7190-5432-7. <a href="978-0-7190-5432-7" target="_blank">978-0-7190-5432-7</a> <a href="#fnref:15" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
</ol>

Short, sharp shock open-in-new

Short, sharp shock