keep a civil tongue in one's head

present singular third person keeps a civil tongue in one's head · participle present keeping a civil tongue in one's head · participle past kept a civil tongue in one's head · past kept a civil tongue in one's head · alternative keep a civil tongue · alternative keep a civil tongue in one's mouth · alternative put a civil tongue in one's head · alternative put a civil tongue in one's mouth

1. idiomaticTo maintain a polite manner of speaking.

   "Keep a civil tongue in your head," cried the young man, his face paling in anger, at the insulting tone of the sailor.

   1914, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter 13, in Tarzan of the Apes

   3 more examples

   "I've had enough of that kind of talk. I don't intend to submit to your impudence. When you speak to me keep a civil tongue in your head."

   1875, Horatio Alger, chapter 20, in Herbert Carter's Legacy

   If every high-tempered man knew that his wife would leave him if he dared curse her because the coffee was cold, or dinner fifteen minutes late, he would keep a civil tongue in his head.

   1943 March 25, Dorothy Dix, “Dorothy Dix”, in Spartanburg Herald, retrieved 24 Jan 2016, page 5

   After Helena Bonham Carter, the great-granddaughter of Herbert Asquith, complained that for all her advantages and beauty directors would not hire her because she was not "trendily working class", an exasperated Kathy Burke found the effort of keeping a civil tongue in her head too much to bear. "As a lifelong member of the non-pretty working classes," she told Time Out, "I would like to say to Helena Bonham Carter: shut up you stupid cunt."

   2012 January 15, Nick Cohen, “Viscount Astor, you really are a class apart”, in Guardian, UK, retrieved 23 Jan 2016