Live to tell the tale

Thursday, 2023-10-12, Phrase: Live to tell the tale

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Phrase: Live to tell the tale

Live to tell the tale is a phrase that means to survive a dangerous or challenging situation and be able to talk about it afterward.


It implies the person who experienced the situation could overcome it with a story to tell.

I have two stories of times when I lived to tell the tale.

The first one happened when I was living, working and studying in Vancouver, Canada.

I was going to work early in the morning on a weekend and needed to go to the bank machine.

I opened the door, went inside and got my money.

When I tried to leave, the door wouldn’t open.

I was trapped inside a bank ATM.

I thought I’d be there until Monday, but a security guard eventually let me out.

I lived to tell the tale.

The second story happened when I was travelling in Australia.

I got off at the wrong train station in Sydney and ended up in a dangerous neighbourhood.

I walked around with a large backpack in a bad part of town.

Two scary-looking dudes started following me, and I knew I had to escape that situation.

I lost them in some side streets and doubled back to the station.

Once I was on the platform, they showed up again.

Just as they were stepping off the stairs, a train arrived, and I got on, but so did they.

It was late at night, so I went to the back of the train where the conductor was and sat where he could see me.

It was a scary experience, but I lived to tell the tale.

When going through a challenging experience, remember you can live to tell the tale, too.  


Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test

This post is understandable by someone with at least a 6th-grade education (age 11).  

On the Flesch-Kincaid reading-ease test, this post scores 81.  

The easier a passage is to read, the higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100. 



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