Tell Them You 'Heard it Through the Grapevine'

Tell Them You 'Heard it Through the Grapevine'

Hello and welcome to another episodes¹ of Words and Their Stories, a VOA Learning English program.

Each week we explore the stories behind common American words and expressions. We try to give you useful information.

But some of the most exciting information comes not online or from your phone or in a text. Some of the most exciting information comes to you by way of “the grapevine”

That is so because reports received through “the grapevine” are supposed to be secret. The information is very “hush-hush.” It is whispered into your ear, with the understanding that you will not pass it on to others.

You feel honored and excited. You are one of the special few to get this information. You cannot wait. You must quickly find another ear to pour the information into. And so, the information, secret as it is, begins to spread – like a vine. Nobody knows how far the vine will spread.

The expression “by the grapevine” is more than 100 years old. But it seems like a new expression; it hasn’t changed a bit and is often used in conversations.

The American inventor Samuel F. B. Morse is largely responsible for the birth of the expression. Among others, he experimented with the idea of telegraphy, sending messages over a wire by electricity.

When Morse finally completed his telegraphic instrument, he went before Congress to show that it worked. He sent a message over a wire from Washington to Baltimore. The message was: “What God hath wrought².” This was on May 24, 1844.

And with those words, telegraphy was born. Everybody heard the news with great excitement. Everybody, it seems, but the author of “Walden,” Henry David Thoreau. He wondered if men had anything to say that was worth sending by electricity. But Thoreau was a loner, a dreamer. Few shared his ideas.

Quickly, companies began to build telegraph lines from one place to another. Men everywhere seemed to be putting up poles with strings³ of wire for carrying telegraphic messages. The workmanship was poor and the wires were not often put up straight.

One was so badly built that people joked about it. They said it looked like a grapevine. A large number of the telegraph lines looked just as funny, going in all directions, as crooked⁴ as a grapevine. And so the expression “by the grapevine” was born.

Some writers believe that the phrase would soon have disappeared, were it not for the American Civil War. Soon after the war began, military commanders started to send battlefield reports by telegraph.

Then something strange happened. Besides these true reports, all sorts of wild rumors⁶ and false stories were being received in different places. These false reports spread quickly. They spread so fast that people believed there were “grapevine telegraphs” sending messages from a number of different places.

One soon heard the phrase, “by the grapevine” to describe false as well as true reports from the battlefield. There was a mystery about these reports. People wondered where the secret information came from. It was like a game: Was it true? Who says so?

Now, as in those far off Civil War days, getting information by the grapevine remains⁷ something of a game. A friend brings you a bit of strange news. It may be so shocking that you ask, “Where did you hear that?” The answer may be, “I heard it through the grapevine.”

You have decide if it’s true or not.

Words in This Story

wild -- adj. uncontrolled and dangerous

rumor⁵ -- n. information or a story that is passed from person to person but has not been proven to be true?

1 episodes   

插曲，片断( episode的名词复数 )； 一集

参考例句：

• The novel deals with the romantic episodes of her early life. 小说叙述了她早期生活的浪漫插曲。
• Three episodes have been telescoped into a single programme. 把叁集的内容压缩成了一个节目。

2 wrought   

v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的

参考例句：

• Events in Paris wrought a change in British opinion towards France and Germany.巴黎发生的事件改变了英国对法国和德国的看法。
• It's a walking stick with a gold head wrought in the form of a flower.那是一个金质花形包头的拐杖。

3 strings   

n.弦

参考例句：

• He sat on the bed,idly plucking the strings of his guitar.他坐在床上，随意地拨着吉他的弦。
• She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。

4 crooked   

adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的

参考例句：

• He crooked a finger to tell us to go over to him.他弯了弯手指，示意我们到他那儿去。
• You have to drive slowly on these crooked country roads.在这些弯弯曲曲的乡间小路上你得慢慢开车。

5 rumor   

n.谣言，谣传，传说

参考例句：

• The rumor has been traced back to a bad man.那谣言经追查是个坏人造的。
• The rumor has taken air.谣言流传开了。

6 rumors   

n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷

参考例句：

• Rumors have it that the school was burned down. 有谣言说学校给烧掉了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Rumors of a revolt were afloat. 叛变的谣言四起。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。