You don't hear the thunder of wrath through the grapevine ... "
John Steinbeck
Liliputins. What, the heck, is this?
http://stihi.ru/2021/11/24/7101
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Phrase Dictionary | Heard it through the grapevine
The meaning and origin of the expression: Heard it through the grapevine
The expression 'through the grapevine' (or sometimes 'on the grapevine') is commonly used to mean 'unofficially' rather than through an official announcement, for example 'I heard it on the grapevine that they're planning to make some people redundant.
heard it through the grapevine
word-of-mouth or person-to-person communications:
bush telegraphs
jungle telegraph
grapevine telegraph
a little bird told me
1. humorous
used to say that the speaker knows something but prefers to keep the identity of the informant a secret.
"a little bird told me it was your birthday"
German
Flurfunk m (genitive Flurfunks, no plural)
1.gossip network, rumor mill, grapevine (Informal person-to-person means of circulating information, particularly in companies and institutions.)
Synonyms:
H;rensagen
Geruechtekueche
Buschfunk
Tratsch
Klatsch
Hoerensagen, das
Beispiel: meist in etwas nur vom Hoerensagen wissen
Bedeutungsuebersicht
etwas von anderen Erzaehltes als einzige Wissensquelle
Wendungen, Redensarten, Sprichwörter
vom Hoerensagen (aus den Erzaehlungen anderer, nicht aus eigener Erfahrung: etwas nur vom Hoerensagen kennen, wissen)
Other phrases about: •The natural world
What's the meaning of the phrase 'Heard it through the grapevine'?
An indication that a piece of information was obtained via an informal contact.
What's the origin of the phrase 'Heard it through the grapevine'?
The first practical public demonstration of the telegraph was given in 1844, when Samuel Morse sent a message from Washington to Baltimore. The invention was widely welcomed as a means of rapidly communicating news. It soon became clear though that close communities already had effective word-of-mouth communications. Soon after the telegraph was invented the term 'grapevine telegraph' was coined - first recorded in a US dictionary in 1852. This distinguished the new direct 'down-the-wire' telegraph from the earlier method, which was likened to the coiling tendrils of a vine. It's clear that the allusion was to interactions amongst people who could be expected to be found amongst grapevines, that is, the rural poor.
In 1876, The Reno Evening Gazette ran an article about a bumper corn and grape crop. They commented on the fact that the people who were then called Indians and Negroes seemed to be already aware of it (hardly a surprise you might think as it would have been they who had harvested the crops):
"It would seem that the Indians have some mysterious means of conveying the news, like the famous grapevine telegraph of the negroes in the [American Civil] war. The Pioneer Press and Tribune says that, while the first telegraphic news of Custer's death reached them at midnight, the Indians loafing about town were inquiring about it at noon."
The term 'bush telegraph' originated in Australia, probably influenced by 'grapevine telegraph'. That referred to the informal network that passed information about police movements to convicts who were hiding in the bush. It was recorded in 1878 by an Australian author called Morris:
"The police are baffled by the number and activity of the bush telegraphs."
heard it through the grapevine. In the UK it was the 'jungle telegraph' - referring to communications in outposts of the British Empire around the same period.
Of course 'heard it through the grapevine' is best known to us as the Motown song, recorded by Gladys Knight & the Pips in 1967 and by Marvin Gaye in 1968. It's salutary that, whilst the telegraph is long gone, the person-to-person communication that preceded it is still going strong.
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Grapevine (gossip)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
See also: Chinese whispers and Gossip
To hear something through the grapevine is to learn of something informally and unofficially by means of gossip or rumor.
The usual implication is that the information was passed person to person by word of mouth, perhaps in a confidential manner among friends or colleagues. It can also imply an overheard conversation or anonymous sources of information. For instance "I heard through the grapevine that Brad was getting fired."
Etymology
In his autobiography Up From Slavery, Booker T. Washington says that slaves in the South kept up-to-date on current events by "what was termed the 'grape-vine' telegraph."
“ Often the slaves got knowledge of the results of great battles before the white people received it. This news was usually received from the coloured man who was sent to the post office for the mail... The man who was sent to the post office would linger about the place long enough to get the drift of the conversation from the group of white people who naturally congregated there, after receiving their mail, to discuss the latest news. The mail carrier on his way back to our master's house would as naturally retell the news that he had secured among the slaves, and in this way they often heard of important events before the white people at the 'big house,' as the master's house was called. ”
However, the New York Public Library contends that the phrase derives from the infamous Grapevine Tavern in New York City's Greenwich Village. During the Civil War it "...was a popular hangout of Union officers and Confederate spies... It was the ideal place to get news and information, or in the case of spies and politicians, the ideal place to spread rumors and gossip, leading to the popular phrase 'heard it through the grapevine'."
The term gained a boost in popularity through its use in the Motown song I Heard It Through the Grapevine, a major hit single for both Marvin Gaye and Gladys Knight & the Pips in the late 1960s.
Grapevine communication existed from the American Civil War to the First World War. It was coined this because of its nature of networking and reaching several at once; it causes the transformation of information between one individual and another.
Features
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Flexibility: There is no formal control over grapevine, so it is more flexible than other forms of communication. This also makes it more vulnerable and problematic, as one cannot send a message to any specific person, but is rather putting faith in the vagaries of luck, having no idea how many people, or who, might eventually hear the communication. Compare this to sending a letter to a person, or telephoning them, for example.
Rapid communication: It is faster than many other forms of communication such as the postal service or posting bulletins.
No record: There is no evidence which can be documented for future reference
Distortion: The message which is passed gets distorted when it passes from one person to another.
Spontaneity: Grapevine communication is spontaneous as it is passed automatically from the top level of the organization to the bottom level without any difficulty in delivering the message. It is used by management to spread information that either cannot be shared officially or in an attempt to test the waters.
Cheap: It does not require any funds to take place. However, it can cost you money if there are negative consequences of messages being garbled in transmission from person to person, or if a person(s) fails to receive the message through some misunderstanding, such as others believing they were already informed, since there is no control over or record kept of the communication and thus no idea of who heard it, when they heard it, or even what they actually heard.
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Loose lips sink ships
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Loose lips sink ships is an American English idiom meaning "beware of unguarded talk".
The phrase originated on propaganda posters during World War II. The phrase was created by the War Advertising Council and used on posters by the United States Office of War Information.
The most famous poster that helped popularize the phrase (pictured at right) was created for the Seagram Distillers Corporation by the designer Seymour R. Goff (also known by the pseudonym "Ess-ar-gee" or Essargee). This type of poster was part of a general campaign of American propaganda during World War II to advise servicemen and other citizens to avoid careless talk concerning secure information that might be of use to the enemy.[5] The British equivalent used "Careless Talk Costs Lives", and variations on the phrase "Keep mum", while in neutral Sweden the State Information Board promoted the wordplay "en svensk tiger" (the Swedish word "tiger" means both "tiger" and "keeping silent"), and Germany used "Schaem Dich, Schwaetzer!" (English: "Shame on you, blabbermouth!").
The gist of this particular slogan was that one should avoid speaking of ship movements, as this talk (if directed at or overheard by covert enemy agents) might allow the enemy to intercept and destroy the ships.
There were many similar such slogans, but "Loose lips sink ships" remained in the American idiom for the remainder of the century and into the next, usually as an admonition to avoid careless talk in general.