Who taught : Jean and Pete

Today was Jake’s question day. He asked a few interesting questions to people and I was one of them. One question I found it useful was, “If you are in a room where air conditioner is on and you think it is too cold, would you ask Jessica to turn it down or turn it up?” I said, “Turn it down!” “But then, does it mean you want to set the target temperature down which makes the room even colder?” “No, it means just make it not too strong in terms of fan speed or something.” He asked the same question to other friends, American friends. They all said, “turn it down.” Well, what would you say?

let the cat out of the bag

They say there is no secret. Do you agree? Have you ever experienced a secret crush on someone? You know, like your school friend or teacher. I guess you have. If you have not, it is not too late. 🙂

Then, have you also told to a few of your best friends, “Hey, so… it is between you and me. You gotta promise that you are going to keep the secret……I think I love Jessica.” Well, when you said, did you really expect that your friends would keep it secret? Honestly, once you say any of your secrets to someone else, I bet you should consider that it is not a secret any more. Anyways, what if someone else found it out and ask you like, “So, Terry. Is it true that you have a crush on Jessica?” Then, at that moment, I can say, “What? how did you know that? Who spill the beans?” Or the other expression is “Who let the cat out of the bag?”

They all mean “to tell/expose secret information.” If you want to describe the situation that secret is exposed to everyone, then you can say, “Oh cr*b! Now, the cat is out of the bag! What should I do?”

While I am looking for the best etymology of “spill the beans”, I stumbled upon this interesting story.

Folk etymology holds that the phrase comes from secret societies in ancient Greece. Members would vote on applicants by placing white (for yes) or black (for no) beans into a vessel. If the vessel were to spill or get knocked over on purpose, the secret vote would be revealed. But it is not likely to be true since the saying is American and only dates back to the early twentieth century. (Source : Yahoo!)

How about “let the cat out of the bag”? Here is the best one I found.

At medieval markets, unscrupulous traders would display a pig for sale. However, the pig was always given to the customer in a bag, with strict instructions not to open the bag until they were some way away. The trader would hand the customer a bag containing something that wriggled, and it was only later that the buyer would find he’d been conned when he opened the bag to reveal that it contained a cat, not a pig. Therefore, “letting the cat out of the bag” revealed the secret of the con trick. (Source : Ag Etymology)

What do you think? It sounds very reasonable, isn’t it? Since I read this etymology, I think I would not forget the expression at all.