Let the cat out of the bag

Let the cat out of the bag

Cats love bags! By the way, have you heard about the expression, “let the cat out of the bag,” from newspapers or TV shows? This American idiom basically means “to disclose a secret” or “to reveal the facts that have been previously hidden.” The origin of this idiom is not really clear. However, one of the hypotheses is based on the belief that it originated from a livestock trade scam; the explanation is that, when selling piglets to buyers, merchants swap piglets for cats (less valuable than the piglets at that time) in a bag to raise their profits. The customers would not notice this fraud until they open up the bags. Here is the example from a newspaper article:

“It all started when Netflix “let the cat out of the bag” early this week at the INTV conference in Jerusalem, admitting that Claire Foy, the actress playing the lead role of Queen Elizabeth in the two first seasons of the ultra-popular series The Crown, was paid far less than her co-star Matt Smith, who portrayed Prince Philip. (Forbes, March 15, 2018)”

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