A: Can you put down your phone and take the garbage out now?

    B: Will you put a sock in it? I told you that I’d take the garbage out later when the temperature cools off.

    Note: This is a colloquial British phrase that originated in the early 20th century. It is generally used when someone is being so noisy as to annoy others. The imagery behind the phrases is that putting a sock in whatever was causing the noise would quieten it down. There are suggestions that this may have been the horn of an early gramophone or, more straightforwardly, the raucous person’s mouth.