Volume XXX

I. Spill the beans 🫘

Back in Ancient Greece, voting wasn’t done with slips of paper — it was done with beans.

Citizens dropped white beans for yes and black beans for no into a jar. But if someone accidentally (or “accidentally”) knocked it over, the results got revealed early. Hence, “spilling the beans.”

Today, the stakes aren’t national policy, but the phrase still fits: the buddy who blurts out your Vegas trip plans to your spouse, the coworker who ruins the “surprise” party, or the sibling who can’t keep their mouth shut about a pregnancy at Thanksgiving.

II. Cut to the chase 🎬

Silent films of the 1920s loved to drag out slow romance scenes before finally delivering the good stuff — a galloping horse or a screeching car chase.

Directors grew impatient and started saying “cut to the chase,” meaning skip the fluff and get to the action. By the 1930s, the phrase left Hollywood and entered everyday life.

Nowadays it’s used when that guy at the company happy hour rambles on about his “crazy fishing story” or when your SVP spends 15 minutes “breaking the ice” at the quarterly all-hands.

III. Third times the charm🍀

Three has always carried weight: the Holy Trinity, the rule of three in fairy tales, even medieval English law, where an order or warning often had to be given three times before enforcement.

The pattern gave rise to folk wisdom — fail twice, but the third attempt just might succeed. Or, as the Scots put it: “All things thrive at thrice.”

By the 19th century, this cultural “power of three” crystallized into the saying we use today.

Job interview, password attempt, pickup line at the bar — good things hit on number three.

Keep on sending on. Forward to a friend.