spill the beans

to tell a secret

TRANSLATION

die Katze aus dem Sack lassen

STATISTICS

IN THE PRESS

BBC SPILLS BEANS on 'Queen' Camilla -- A friend of Camilla Parker Bowles has told BBC's Panorama that she is known to her family as "queen".

(Hannah Wright - Yahoo UK - 23 October 2002)

Did you
know?

Did you know?
            
In ancient Greece, voting for membership into some of their organizations was done via beans. Those favouring a candidate dropped white beans into a container, those against brown or black beans. If someone accidentally (or deliberately) knocked over the container, the beans and the secret would be revealed.

A similar English idiom is "to let the cat out of the bag" -- same as in German.

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