How to speak about secrets?

The key is keeping yourself to yourself. Keep your mystery. Don't give them too much information so they can't define you.

We hardly knew them – they kept themselves to themselves.

If something takes place behind closed doors, it is done privately, with no observers or intruders.

It seems that the deal was made behind closed doors. The matter was discussed behind closed doors.

“We are masters of the unsaid words, but slaves of those we let slip out.”

He let it slip that they were planning to get married.

"We're not having beans for dinner. Mom said you spilled them."

I spilt the beans when I told her that he wasn’t at the conference at all.

They stay schtum all the time as if there is a hidden tariff which stipulates a certain price per word uttered.

The boss of the failed company is keeping schtum about his role in the disaster.

I wanted it to be surprised, but Parsa went and let the cat out of the bag. to reveal a secret unintentionally; to make a secret known without wanting to do so.

The engagement ring on her finger rather let the cat out of the bag.

to reveal a plan, strategy, surprise or joke that was supposed to be kept secret

Lynn gave the game away by laughing when Kim walked in.

'I can't tell you what's in the stew because it's classified information.'

This is classified information.

The best way to divulge a secret is to tell someone not to say anything about it.

It is not company policy to divulge personal details of employees.

Let's keep this secret just between you and me

Between you and me, I think Schmidt’s about to resign.

not intended to be known, seen, or found out. Hey boss. I'm not sure our covert surveillance is real covert anymore.

A covert investigation was conducted to catch the drug-smugglers.

Questions are only offensive to those who have something to hide.

He told the jury that he is innocent, but they think he has something to hide.

done in a quiet and secretive way to avoid being noticed: surreptitious | a furtive glance | exchanged furtive smiles

There was something furtive about his actions.

In a state of secrecy or minimal public knowledge; being known only by a select few people. I need to tell you some important news, but you have to keep it on the hush-hush, OK?

Everything was very hush-hush. Apparently it's on the hush-hush, but I just found out John and Tracey are getting married soon!

Secret, not to be shown to anyone. The file was marked private and confidential.

Doctors are required to keep patients’ records completely confidential.

Enthusiastic answers are great, but let’s give everyone time to think first.

Peter blurted the news out before we could stop him.

My job is top secret I don't even know what I'm doing

They used a top secret code to prevent the enemy from knowing what they were saying.

myth or fact

The first myth about motherhood is that new mothers instantly fall in love with their babies.

Conventional wisdom is often more conventional than wisdom.

As traffic grows, conventional wisdom says we should widen the roads.

We don't see things as they are. We see them as we are.

Art is a great way to discover children’s perceptions of the world.

Irrelevant authority. Appeal to commonly held opinion. A claim or argument that something is true because many people believe it to be true.

“Mom, why can’t I get my tongue pierced? Everyone else is doing it.”

Fallacy: an argument that relies upon faulty reasoning.

It is a fallacy to think that the more information an organisation has, the better its decisions will be.

How can I automatically verify someone's identity (i.e., they are who they say they are) online?

A computer program verifies that the system is working.

uncover the facts

Customs officials uncovered the truth about a plot to smuggle weapons into the country.

Intellect vs Intuition

He knew what to do intuitively.

Debunking a myth creates a gap. Fill the gap with factual alternative.

His claims were later debunked by fellow academics.

To prove that something is not true.

These figures disproved Smith’s argument.

SMS stands for Short Message Services and is also commonly referred to as a "text message".

Send me a text message once you’ve arrived.

A video game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device such as a TV screen or computer monitor.

There are always ads for video games on the TV these days.

Fast food is a mass-produced food that is prepared and served very quickly.

There are lots of fast food outlets in the high street.

A Website that enables users to create public profiles within that web site. Used to form relationships with other users of the same website who access their profile.

Facebook is probably the best-known social networking website.

Less serious than getting together or dating. Spending time with someone in the context of friendship or in the context of casually exploring whether you like someone as just a friend or maybe more than a friend.

I don’t really know who she hangs out with

A shopping mall is a modern, chiefly North American, term for a form of shopping precinct or shopping center

She goes to the shopping mall with her friends at the weekend.

A mobile phone, known as a cell phone in North America, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while the user is moving within a telephone service area

The latest mobile phones are on sale here

A mobile device is a handheld tablet or other device that is made for portability, and is therefore both compact and lightweight.

This app will work on all your mobile devices.

to move or happen faster You see drivers speeding up when they should be slowing down.

The truck speeded up going down the hill.

Sending you some smiles to brighten your day!

She bought some flowers to brighten up the room.

If you jazz something up, you make it look more interesting, colourful, or exciting.

Jazz up your everyday meals with our new range of seasonings.

The show must go on

He went on working until he was 91.

Keep calm and carry on.

You’ll have an accident if you carry on driving like that.

This world is a dance floor ... Keep on dancing!

You just have to keep on trying.

"I appreciate the goodbye party. However, I wasn't aware I was going anywhere."

Many of the old ships have been pensioned off.

go back on a promise or fail to keep to an arrangement. "we were going to Spain together and he cried off at the last moment"

Leah and I were going to go to Morocco together, but at the last moment she cried off.

The trip to Italy might be called off.

Remember to switch off!

The burglar alarm was switched off.

to get information about something or someone. He was found out cheating in the exam.

Has anyone bothered to find out how much all this is going to cost?

Assert or promote one's opinion; to make one's thoughts known. E.g. You should learn to speak out in meetings with your boss.

Five students who had spoken out against the regime were arrested.

to be much better or more important than somebody/something. Four points stand out as being more important than the rest.

That day still stands out as the greatest day in my life.

When Atheist calls out to God: O God, save me!

‘Hi there!’ I called out.

Most GROUTH happens slowly. OVER TIME. The Slow Down Challenge

The ice on the road slowed us down.

"Narrow down" means "to reduce the number of possibilities, options or choices

The police have narrowed down their list of suspects.

to start dealing with bad or illegal behaviour in a more severe way: The library is cracking down on people who lose their books.

The government is determined to crack down on terrorism. We all want to crack down on crime...

To put in the designated place for storage

He put his toys away every night.

if something blows away or is blown away, the wind moves it away from you until you cannot see or touch it. His hat blew away on the roller coaster. She switched on the fan to blow away the smoke.

My ticket blew away.

DO NOT REMOVE: You can't take it away!

She whisked the tray off the table and took it away.

To make somebody remember something or think about it again. The photographs brought back many pleasant memories.

The city council has decided to bring back the old electric trams.

-remember, recapture the past, indulge in memories. When I think back on my youth, I wish I had studied harder.

Thinking back, it amazes me how we survived on so little sleep.

Think about the past. Old people often LOOK BACK on over their lives.

When I look back on those days I realise I was desperately unhappy

Cast your mind back to this morning when you woke up – what were your first thoughts?

He frowned, casting his mind back over the conversation.

Do random things, not be serious. Make a place disorganized. Do something incorrectly.

He spent his vacation messing around on the farm.

Doctors stand around the bed with the sick.

We stood around saying goodbye for a while.

You hang around, I'll go on ahead. To linger some place without doing anything productive. There are always kids hanging around the diner after school, as if they don't have any homework to do.

I hung around the station for an hour but he never came.

To think about carefully. I'll mull over and get back to you.

We mulled over the candidates and finally chose one.

Poring over a book means reading it with great attention.

She was poring over a book.

Man holding his son up to look over a fence.

Do you have a few minutes to look these samples over?

to consider, deliberate • E.g. Let's think over his proposal before we see him again

Why don’t you think it over and give me a call in a couple of days?

Office talk over coffee. So she finally kisses me, and poof! Goodbye froggy. How was your weekend?

Talk over any worries with your GP.

Look up to the sky, and maybe you will find your happiness.

Now the summer’s here, things are looking up!

If you soldier on at something, you continue to do it although it is difficult or unpleasant. The government has soldiered on as if nothing were wrong

We’ll just have to soldier on without him.

The tributes are flooding in as Microsoft announces plans to kill off Paint

These figures kill off any hope that the economy is poised for recovery.

to begin to feel more relaxed and less emotional, or to make someone do this. Calm down and tell us what’s going on.

Calm down and tell me what happened.

When you tidy up or tidy a place up, you put things back in their proper places so that everything is neat.

It’s time we tidied up the office.

“Slip back” is used for falls that come after rises.

He had begun to slip back into debt.

Today would have been a perfect day to lounge around with no pants on. But some people at work complain.

James does nothing but lounge around the apartment.

investigative journalism should be fearless

He’s a well-known investigative journalist.

In simple terms, an injunction means that one of the parties to a certain action must either do something or refrain from doing something.

The family is seeking an injunction against the book’s publication.

Whistle Blowing” is the term used to refer to unauthorized reporting or disclosure of confidential information in institutional settings.

The company had paid out substantial sums to discourage whistle-blowing employees.

The transmission of confidential, private, sensitive, proprietary, or valuable information through email or IM may represent a significant security risk.

She has access to sensitive information about national security.

a story or piece of news discovered and published by one newspaper before all the others: The paper managed to secure a major scoop and broke the scandal to the world.

He managed to get the scoop of the year when he broke the news.

Official definition of an information source: Book, document, database, person that provides information

I’ve heard from reliable sources that the company is in trouble.

How would you survive for 10 years on a deserted island?

The old mine now stands completely deserted.

Abandoned castles around the world

The car was found abandoned in Bristol.

An aerial view of an uninhabited tropical island

They found an uninhabited island in the Caribbean.

Rehabilitation Progress

He was sent to a special rehabilitation unit for stroke patients.

term comes from quarantena, meaning forty-day period.

The monkeys were kept in quarantine for 31 days.