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English Phrase: Tell tales out of school
We’ll start with the bottom line today.
Everyone loves a bit of gossip, but nobody likes it when you tell tales out of school about them.
That’s the truth of it.
To tell tales out of school means to participate in spreading gossip, secrets, lies or rumours about others.
Spreading secrets, lies and rumours about others is all harmless fun and games until the tables are turned, and you, yourself, are the target of the attacks.
It’s not only little girls and boys in school either.
This kind of stuff goes on in offices all around the world.
There’s nothing as poisonous as the fruit of the office grapevine.
The stereotype is that women are the ones telling tales out of school, but men are in on it too, you know.
It takes two to tango, and when Miku chan has an affair with Taku kun, well, let’s say no one is immune to the attraction of gossip and intrigue.
That’s why you should never, ever tell tales out of school.
If you are transferred from one section to another or one branch office to another, don’t bring any gossip with you.
If you tell no tales out of school, nothing can ever be traced back to you.
I always have to be especially careful with this type of thing in Japan.
With Japanese as my second language, there are still little nuances that I miss.
Those little nuances are what can cause a lot of trouble and, more importantly, get me into a big mess.
It’s better to stay out of all the political stuff.
That’s why I never tell tales out of school.
Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test
This post is understandable by someone with at least a 7th-grade education (age 12).
On the Flesch-Kincaid reading-ease test, this post scores 80.
The higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100, the easier the passage is to read.