<P> `` Up to eleven '' , also phrased as `` these go to eleven '' , is an idiom from popular culture , coined in the 1984 movie This Is Spinal Tap , where guitarist Nigel Tufnel proudly demonstrates an amplifier whose volume knob is marked from zero to eleven , instead of the usual zero to ten . The primary implication of the reference is one in which things that are essentially the same are seen as different , due to mislabeling or the user 's misunderstanding of the underlying operating principles . A secondary reference may be anything being exploited to its utmost limits , or apparently exceeding them . Similarly , the expression `` turning it up to eleven '' refers to the act of taking something to an extreme . In 2002 the phrase entered the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary with the definition `` up to maximum volume '' . </P>
where did turn it up to 11 come from
the 1984 movie This Is Spinal Tap