It is no secret…
“Cat’s out of the bag” is an idiom that means a secret has been revealed or a surprise has been spoiled.
It suggests that something that was supposed to be concealed or kept hidden has been exposed or made known to others. Essentially, it is used to indicate that there is no going back to secrecy or pretending ignorance about a particular matter.
“Cat’s out of the bag.”
The expression dates back to the old English rural markets, particularly during the Medieval era.
Back then, it was common for farmers to bring their livestock to market in bags or sacks. Obviously, there were crooks among them. The Medieval equivalent of used car sellers.
Unscrupulous sellers sometimes tried to deceive buyers by substituting a lower-value animal, such as a cat, for a higher-value one, such as a pig.
“This piglet is so active that I need to keep it hidden in this sack or it will run away.”
Then they would sweet talk gullible buyers who needed the stock to fill up their empty barns. Yes, the would keep the cat hidden in the bag until the buyer made the purchase.
However, some buyers had been fooled before.
Or they heard about their neighbor who had been fooled. And they were not going to fall for it. They got suspicious and demanded to inspect the bag before making the purchase.
The seller would have no choice but to reveal the true contents.
Once the cat was revealed, the deceit was exposed, and the secret was out.
So, the expression “cat’s out of the bag” metaphorically refers to a secret or deception being revealed, just as the true contents of the bag were revealed when the cat was discovered.
There is no going back from there.
The first known written record of this expression can be found in a letter from May 4th, 1530 from Johannes Agricola to Martin Luther as referenced in Lyndal Roper’s 2016 biography about Martin Luther
(source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letting_the_cat_out_of_the_bag)
An later reference to the expression is from the 1760’s edition of the London Magazine.
It said:
QUOTE: “We could have wished that the author… had not let the cat out of the bag.”
There is a public domain image showing it here:
The expression is said to have evolved or live alongside with the expression “a pig in a poke.”
The latter expression is less known today. Probably because the word “poke” today is mostly known as a verb. In the old sense, it was the type of a bag farmers used.
Finally, it can also mean a bonnet with a broad brim.
Hiding an ugly girl, maybe?
Once the secret is out, it is out.
You cannot hide the truth once it is out in the open. But in the literal sense, you can put a cat into the bag again. While traveling.
During my research about this expression, I found this awesome cat carrier that looks more like a tent made for tiny felines than a bag.
If you want to express the same thing, revealing a secret, using another expression, how would you do that?
There are several you can use.
You can, for example, "spill the beans" or "spill your guts"when you tell your secret on purpose.
Or someone can "give the game away" when they reveal something that should have stayed secret for their own sake.
Now we have let the cat out of the bag about this expression.
