Short, sharp shock

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The phrase "Short, sharp shock" is taken from Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta The Mikado, where it appears in the Act 1 song, "I am so proud, if I allowed". In this song, Pooh-Bah, Ko-Ko and Pish-Tush are contemplating "the sensation of a cheap and chippy chopper on a big, black, block", since by decree of the Mikado, at least one member of the town of Titipu must face execution, lest the town be reduced to the rank of a village.

The phrase is heard as part of a spoken section in the song Us and Them by Pink Floyd from their 1973 album, The Dark Side of the Moon. The phrase is spoken by rock and roll road manager Roger The Hat:

"I mean, they're not gunna kill ya, so if you give 'em a quick short, sharp, shock, they won't do it again. Dig it? I mean he get off lightly, 'cos I would've given him a thrashing - I only hit him once!

It was only a difference of opinion, but really...I mean good manners don't cost nothing do they, eh?"

This phrase also met popularity under the Thatcher government in the UK, when the then Home Secretary Willie Whitelaw introduced the "short, sharp shock" treatment at detention centers for young criminals (advertised as part of the 1979 Conservative Party Manifesto).

The phrase was used in the title of a science fiction novel, A Short, Sharp Shock by Kim Stanley Robinson.

It also appears in the title of an album, Short Sharp Shocked, by Michelle Shocked.

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