Loose lips sink ships

Loose lips sink ships is an American English idiom meaning "beware of unguarded talk".

An American propaganda poster of WWII

The phrase originated on propaganda posters during World War II.^[1] The phrase was created by the War Advertising Council^[2] and used on posters by the United States Office of War Information.^[1]

The posters were part of the general campaign of American propaganda during World War II and were part of a campaign to advise servicemen and other citizens to avoid careless talk concerning secure information that might be of use to the enemy.^[3] The British equivalent used variations on the phrase "Keep mum".^[4]

The gist of this particular slogan was that one should avoid speaking of ship movements, as this talk (if directed at or overheard by covert enemy agents) might allow the enemy to intercept and destroy the ships.^[5]

There were many similar such slogans, but "Loose lips sink ships" remained in the American idiom for the remainder of the century and into the next, usually as an admonition to avoid careless talk in general.^[5][6]

Some examples of use the phrase outside the World War II propaganda context are:

• Loose Lips Sink Ships is the name of a pop band,^[7] a pop album (by Des Ark), and pop songs by various artists, including Camper Van Beethoven, A Change of Pace, Hit the Lights, and others.^[8]
• Loose Lips Sink Ships is a musical play produced by the American Folklore Theatre.
• Loose Lips Sink Ships is the title an episode of the American television program Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains, and a variation, Loose Lips Sink Relationships, is the title of an episode of the American television program Will & Grace.
• "Loose Lips" is the title of a song written by Kimya Dawson heard in the soundtrack of the feature film, Juno.
• "Loose lips sink ships" occurs multiple times throughout the song Cherry Tree by The National.^[9]
• "Loose lips sink ships" is also the title of a paper exploring labiaplasty by Simone Weil Davis of the University of Toronto.^[10]
• Phrase occurs in "Deus Ex: Human Revolution" video game at the end of the letter (about evacuation of FEMA station MICH.355.sos.7 at Highland Park (Detroit) sent by Joseph Manderley.

References