The meaning of 'shut up'

This phrase consists of 2 words, shut and up. 'Shut' means to block an entrance, prevent access to, or close an entrance to keep out a being. 'Up', easily said, means a higher position, or towards a higher position (upwards).
However, when these two words come together, they create an informal, and rather harsh phrase meaning, "stop talking".
This phrase is probably a shortened version of, 'shut your mouth up'.
As crude as it sounds, the basic meaning is to block an entrance by going towards a higher position. In other words, to close the mouth by pushing the lower jaw to a higher position (which evidently closes the mouth).
Though complicatedly composed, this is the basic meaning of the phrase.
As mentioned above, 'shut up' was probably a shorter way of saying, 'shut your mouth'. I believe that the word 'jaw', was loosely replaced by the word 'mouth'.
(Who would go around saying 'shut your jaw up?!' I mean when you are informal, or angry, no need to be so exact!)

So this,  is my understanding of what 'shut up' means.
Thank you.

Speak from your heart

How many of you are chatterboxes? How many of you are scared of speaking to public? How many are BOTH?
I am a chatterbox, and speaking to public wasn't THAT scary, I was growing to like presenting, but two events made me fall in love with speaking and sharing.
On December 31, and today, January 14 I (and 3 others) gave a presentation about our cycle project.
On December 30, Rajashree (my friend) called me up and asked if I was interested in giving a presentation on our project, the bicycle, to American project experts, at school (along with her). I immediately agreed.
I made notes on our project and went to school the next day.
I met up Rajashree, and Tamanna and Ishaan. Those 2 were representing 6-F, and we, 6-E.
Tamanna apparently had the right notes (mine were out of order) and preparing our lines, and notes, we went ready for the speech.
I had to present on history, working in the bike lab, and sketching of earlier models of cycles.
I only had one line in mind, about history : "We saw changes from no pedal to chain, from huge front wheel to huge back wheel, and from our no knowledge to sudden genius-ness."
We had to give 2 presentations, to different crowds.
We were shaky on the first one, messing up the lines. And after that we led the crowd through a small gallery walk, and answered questions.
We were much more confident on our second one, making no mistakes. My line made some people laugh (thank god!), and we had tremendous amount of fun answering the question: Is Gurgaon a bike friendly city?
 We made silly comparisons, and our examples of invention to innovations, were simply funny (steam engine to magnetised metro! Maruti 800 to Lamborghini!)
MAN! It was fun!
 Kanchan ma'am, Jayshree ma'am, and Preeti ma'am, then talked about our project and our eagerness to share showed in our restlessness. Finally we did answer questions and also got to sit in front while Mr. Levy ( our project expert) presented.
The whole experience : FUN!!!!
2 days ago, Mom got an email from ma'am requesting Rajashree and I to present again, with Ishaan and Tamanna to some principals of other schools. Remembering the last time, I readily agreed.
We were nervous to know that we were talking to so many principals, but the tension was broken by discussions of just about anything. (English accents, cures for cancer, singing pigs, you get the point.)
We did end up rehearsing, this time I also introduced. The teachers also wanted us to add some more lines.
We waited quite a while before presenting. I admit, with so much in my head to say, it got a little disorganised as I tried to cramp everything in.
But, while the people were taking the gallery walk we got many questions, which we answered whole-heartedly.
The 4 of us had a lot of fun, enjoying IMMENSELY.
I really want to thank Preeti ma'am, Jayshree ma'am, and Kanchan ma'am for giving us this chance.
So I learned through all this that I loved sharing. I guess the key wasn't in just confidence, but also the fact, I spoke from my heart.

Butterfly Dance

Flitting colours, Elegant wings,
Blues, blacks, yellows, and pinks,
Flying in every single way,
Today is the Butterfly Day.

Dragonflies, buzzing by,
Racing with the butterflies,
All around a flying craze,
Three, two, one, it's the Butterfly Chase

Flower to flower, leaf to leaf
Flying higher than we can see
Swirling, twirling, with every chance
Start the music for the Butterfly Dance

Elephant Poop- Cooky times of Khoj

OUR bathrooms were in tents, with no water, just sand,
From the gypsy I saw, elephants' bathroom-ed on LAND!
We counted 11 HAT-TRICKS, they're such hearty-POOPERS!!!!!!!!
I felt jealous of their freedom, they're big party poopers!

Magic Moms

I never liked ghost stories. The slightest freaked me out. But just to test my bravery, one night on a school trip, I sat to listen to ghost stories around a bonfire. That night in the tents all my friends slept soundly, but it took me, what I felt, as decades for me to sleep. The very next night I returned home, and though I did not admit it to anybody, I went to sleep next to my mother, and all my fears vanished.

At an age, “sticking to mommy” is no longer cool. You are older now, independent, and if you are blubbering out “mommy” in the middle of a horror movie or in a haunted house, well buddy, you are going to be called an s-c-a-r-e-d-y c-a-t, and that’s a name no one wants. 

However, even if the tongue can be held back then, it is more or less often the instinct that causes you to call for your mother in times of panic, pain, or discomfort.

There have been embarrassing times when I couldn’t open the lock of a bathroom, or the knot of a salwaar wouldn’t open, when I desperately needed to empty my bladder; that the word “amma” was blurted out. There were times when I was alone and stuck in a situation which I couldn’t handle, and “mom” was the first word at the tongue.

Once, two of my friends and I had jokingly been talking of what we would exclaim if we had fallen down from a cliff into a deep forest. I mentioned that I would shout, “hat trick” (an inside joke), my friend said he would exclaim, “Ouch” (naturally) while my other friend, said she would scream, “Mummy!” The first friend was surprised by this answer, while I could understand. We then started chatting about how in times of panic we automatically shout for our mom.

 That’s what it was, instinct.

Somehow, we always believed our mother was a sort of magician, able to solve any problem that we had, while it was sheer common sense. We came to her with a problem, which, we were convinced was IMPOSSIBLE to solve. We would wait, as she examined the problem and with a tap of her wand, a solution sprung up. Now when we think back, the solutions were so absurdly simple, we hadn’t even noticed it.

Yet perhaps our mothers do have a magic. When there is a problem, simply call them and they fix it. Perhaps it’s a wound; they simply seem to kiss away the pain. Though the pain exists, the thought that ‘mom’s there’ makes it feel better already.

My own relative, after an operation, half-conscious, in great pain, called “amma, amma”. His mother was very far away, and yet he called for her.

That incident is proof showing that calling for your mother at those kinds of moments is sheer instinct.

So even if the word “mamma” ever does slip from your mouth, don’t worry. Go ahead, don’t tell anyone, that’s your wish, but remember it’s not always a scared-y cat thing, its instinct. We’re used to the world of magic moms, moms who wipe our problems away.

The Alarm

Ringing to annoyance is its charm,
So much we want to cause it harm,
BLARING RED
"TREEP! TREEP!" It said
It's the power of The Great ALARM