Oldiees Publishing - English Words and Expressions 2: American Vocabularies and Idioms for English as a Second Language Students, Children(Kids) and Young Adults

PLAY AUDIO

Some of the most exciting information comes by way of the grapevine.

That is so because reports received through the grapevine are supposed to be secret. The information is all 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 other ears to pour the information into. And so, the information - secret as it is begins to spread. Nobody knows how far.

The expression by the grapevine is more than 100 years old.

The American inventor, Samuel F. 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 hath God wrought?" This was on May 24th, 1844.

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

Some of the results looked strange. People said they looked like a grapevine. A large number of the telegraph lines were going in all directions, as crooked as the vines that grapes grow on. So was born the expression, by the grapevine.

Some writers believe that the phrase would soon have disappeared were it not for the American Civil War.

Soon after the war began in 1861, military commanders started to send battlefield reports by telegraph. People began hearing the phrase by the grapevine to describe false as well as true reports from the battlefield. 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 remains something of a game. A friend brings you a bit of strange news. "No," you say, "it just can't be true! Who told you?" Comes the answer, "I got it by the grapevine."

You really cannot know how much if any of the information that comes to you by the grapevine is true or false. Still, in the words of an old American saying, the person who keeps pulling the grapevine shakes down at least a few grapes.

PLAY AUDIO

We will try to get to "the heart of the matter" to better- understand the most important things about words and their stories. So take heart. Have no fear about learning new expressions. Besides, popular English words can be fun. There is no need for a heavy heart. Such feelings of sadness would only break my heart, or make me feel unhappy and hopeless.

Now, let us suppose you and I were speaking freely about something private. We would be having a "heart-to-heart" discussion. I might speak "from the bottom of my heart," or say things honestly and truthfully. I might even "open up my heart" to you and tell a secret. I would speak "with all my heart," or with great feeling.

When a person shares her feelings freely and openly like this, you might say she "wears her heart on her sleeve," or on her clothing. Her emotions are not protected.

If we had an honest discussion, both of us would know that the other person's heart is "in the right place." For example, I would know that you are a kind-hearted and well-meaning person. And, if you are a very good person, I would even say that you have "a heart of gold." However, you might have "a change of heart" based on what I tell you -- our discussion might cause you to change the way you feel about something.

But, let us suppose you get angry over what I tell you. Or worse, you feel no sympathy or understanding for me or my situation. If this happens, I might think that you have "a heart of stone." And, if you say something to make me frightened or worried, my heart might stand still or "skip a beat."

Yet, even though you may be angry, I would know that at heart, you are a kind person. In reality, you do care. And any argument between us would not cause me to "lose heart," or feel a sense of loss.

"My heart goes out" to anyone who loses a friend over an argument: it really is a sad situation, and I feel sympathy for the people involved.

I promise that what I have told you today is true "cross my heart.