05/26/2026
Jim's weekly English lesson:
shhhh. Did you ever get “shhh”ed?
Maybe you were in the library making too much noise?
Perhaps your teacher “shhh”ed you when you were talking in class?
Were you and your teenage friends joking and laughing in the movie theater and the people around you gave you a big angry: “shhhhhh”!
When you make the “shhh” sound you are telling somebody to be quiet or, at least, to be quieter.
The English word “hush” mostly means the same thing: “stop making noise” or “quiet down” or “lower your voice” or “be quiet”.
Have you ever seen a mother trying to hush her baby?
The word “hush” can be a verb, noun, or an interjection.
“At the circus, when the tight-rope walker was about to walk across the high wire, a hush came over the crowd (noun).
The noisy crowd hushed as soon as the speaker stepped up to the microphone. (verb)
Hush! I am trying to read my book. (interjection)
Sometimes we say “hush hush” when we want to keep a secret. For example, Bob might say to his friend Bill: “Bill, I am going to ask Matilda to marry me tomorrow, but let’s keep that hush hush.”
When your mother says to you, “Hush up”. She is telling you to be quiet. Shut Up!
In 1967, the very famous British Rock band, Herman’s Hermits, sang a version of the song, “There’s a Kind of Hush”. It became a very big hit single and soon everybody in the USA and England knew the song. It peaked at #4. Then, just 9 years later, Karen Carpenter sang her version of “There’s a Kind of Hush” and it hit #1 on the USA Easy Listening Chart.
It has been said by many people that Karen Carpenter had a perfect voice. What do you think? The link below provides the words to the song with Karen singing it. I think Intermediate Level English speakers can follow and understand the words of this relatively slow-moving song. Do you have a favorite singer?
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