Dear tlevape,
The correct spelling is "taisez vous". This is a conjugation of the
verb "se taire", which means literally "to remain silent".
The pronoun "vous" is the second person, so it means "you", but as in
English, it serves both as the singular and the plural. In the
singular case, it is formal, as opposed to the informal "tu", which
resembles the defunct English pronoun "thou". In the plural, it can be
formal or informal. All of this is to say that the commenter is
addressing either a single person formally or a group of people
formally or informally.
In the end, it doesn't matter much whether the comment is directed at
a group or an individual, since its import is the same. To tell
someone or some people to "se taire" is quite simply to ask them to
shut up. It is the same thing you would say at the cinema if you
turned around to confront someone who was gabbing away during the
movie: "Taisez-vous!"
The closest English phrase is perhaps "Would you kindly shut up!",
which can be uttered with various degrees of harshness. In this
particular case, I would say it has a gently mocking inflection rather
than a stern or malicious one.
Regards,
leapinglizard |
