“To let the cat out of the bag!”

I know it is a bit late, but today we have been putting away our Christmas tree decorations. Since our children are back in England and Wales, it made me feel quite nostalgic… but then our cat Sophie appeared! She is a very nervous cat who is always looking for places to hide, and the boxes and bags that we use to store the Christmas decorations were too much of a temptation for her! She climbed in, explored what it was, and then jumped out!

The idiom to let the cat out of the bag was therefore an obvious one to use this week! We say someone has let the cat out of the bag when they have disclosed a secret, (“rivelato un segreto”). The origins of this idiom are not clear, but sometimes a cat suddenly jumping out of a bag can be a surprise!

Here are some examples which as always are true experiences, or realistic situations in which we might use this idiom in our everyday lives.

• Our son recently organized a surprise party for our daughter’s birthday, but then he let the cat out of the bag and told her all her friends were arriving!
• Are you good at keeping secrets, or do you sometimeslet the cat out of the bag?
• Have you ever bought a special, surprise present for someone and then let the cat out of the bag and told them what it was?

If you have facebook you can see this idiom and all our other events on theenglishtree fb page.

On the subject of other events, thanks to all of you who attended our Open Day English Tea yesterday. It was great to see so many people who have joined and who are interested in our community – and if you couldn’t come don’t worry because we will be organizing other similar events soon!

Have a great week!

The English Tree team