Short, Sharp Shock
The phrase "short, sharp shock" means "a quick, severe punishment." It was originally used in Gilbert and Sullivan's 1885 comic opera The Mikado, where it appears in the song near the end of Act I, "I Am So Proud". It has since been used in popular songs, song titles, literature, as well as in general speech.
Read more about Short, Sharp Shock: In Politics
Famous quotes containing the words sharp and/or shock:
“O for some sharp swish of a branch
there is no scent of resin
in this place.”
—Hilda Doolittle (1886–1961)
“Children demand that their heroes should be fleckless, and easily believe them so: perhaps a first discovery to the contrary is less revolutionary shock to a passionate child than the threatened downfall of habitual beliefs which makes the world seem to totter for us in maturer life.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)