Episode 76 🤫 English Idioms We Use When We Tell A Secret

Today we're focusing on telling secrets. Some of these phrases can be used to ask someone not to tell a secret, or to describe someone who can't keep a secret. We'll also cover some business vocabulary we hear in relation to telling secrets. This is the last episode for this week but I'll be back in Episode 77 talking about idioms about lying. Today's Idioms Spill the beans - as we mentioned yesterday, can be used to say 'don't tell the secret' or describe someone who often does tell the secret: 'he always spills the beans.' (Can be shortened to 'spill it!' when we demand someone to tell us a problem or secret.) Whistleblower (whistle blew - I don't think the native English speakers of the world have decided if we even have a past tense of 'whistleblowing' yet! But we need it! I think 'whistleblew' is the most likely and grammatically it works) - A whistleblower is someone who chooses to reveal previously private or hidden information to the general public or wider organisation. The reason is usually because the information is important or harmful to people or the planet in some way. Often a lot of people have tried to keep these things a secret for a long time so whistleblowers tend to get into a lot of trouble for telling their secrets. I got a bit confused in the video about two different people. Both of them are highly controversial and there are very mixed views about whether their actions (and they themselves) are good or bad. This is often the case with whistleblowers. Edward Snowden was a computer analyst in the NSA (America's National Security Agency) he revealed the extent to which the American agency was spying on other countries and on their own people too. He has left America and got into a lot of trouble. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/09/edward-snowden-nsa-whistleblower-surveillance Julian Assange is an Australian editor and activist who founded WikiLeaks, a website which collects and publicises highly secret information from around the world in an effort to keep the public more informed about the actions of companies and governments. America has asked for Assange to be extradited so he can be charged for sharing secrets. He again, is a highly controversial person and the truth and lies that surround him are confusing and difficult to unpick.https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/assange-supporters-form-human-chain-uk-parliament-2022-10-08/ Erin Brockovich is an American activist, legal clerk, consumer advocate and now runs her own research and consulting company. She was the focus of the Julia Roberts movie which told the story of her battle with a large American Gas and Electric company that was contaminating the water of a town. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erin_Brockovich The movie is excellent and well worth watching, it shows the kind of America that we rarely see on TV and, of course, it's always good to see justice prevail! Let the cat out of the bag - this is very similar to 'spill the beans' it means to tell a secret. We can ask someone 'don't let the cat out of the bag' to keep our secret or we can say someone 'always lets the cat out of the bag' to say they can't keep secrets. Give the game away - this is similar to 'spill the beans' and 'let the cat out of the bag' we can also use it to say don't tell someone a secret or don't tell someone what we're doing. bite your tongue/hold your tongue - these both mean 'stop talking'. They can be used to tell someone to 'be quiet' if you think they're going to tell a secret or if you're angry about what they are saying.