keep a civil tongue in one's head

Speak politely, as in The teacher won't allow swearing; she says we must keep a civil tongue in our heads. This expression uses tongue in the sense of "a manner of speaking," a usage dating from the 1400s. An early cautionary version was "Keep a good tongue in your head, lest it hurt your teeth" (1595).

Common Names:

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Ekaitz	-	Basque
Hinata	hee-nah-tah	Japanese
Matthan	-	Biblical, Biblical Latin, Biblical Greek
VilhjÁLmur	-	Icelandic
Aveza	-	Ancient Germanic
Tobin	TO-bin	English