APAD: Blow the gaff

7
7grizzly
楼主 (文学城)

Meaning:

   To make public a secret or reveal a plot.

 

Background:

   When someone is said to blow the gaff it is usually when exposing some crime

   or underworld activity. It's the kind of expression you might expect to hear

   James Cagney use in some mobster film.

 

   ...

 

   The first printed example that I know of is from 1819, in James Vaux's

   A Vocabulary of the Flash Language, the first dictionary ever compiled in

   Australia from The Memoirs of James Hardy Vaux, 1819.

 

     BLOW THE GAFF, a person having any secret in his possession, or a knowledge

     of any thing injurious to another, when at last induced from revenge, or

     other motive, to tell it openly to the world and expose him publicly, is

     then said to have blown the gaff upon him.

 

   Vaux was British by birth and was well acquainted with the language of the

   criminal classes. He was an inveterate thief and swindler and was transported

   to Australia as a convict in 1801.

 

- www.phrases.org.uk [edited]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The end of the third week of June, Bill took the east-bound local train to the

port city to pass the College English Test level 4, a pre-requisite for college

graduation, for his best bud.

 

That muggy overcast morning, he showed up taut, wooden, and on an empty stomach

(He always skipped breakfast on a test day) at the classroom entrance where the

three dozens of exam sitters were verified. A first-time ringer, he didn't try

hard to relax. They were supposed to fret and the last thing he wanted was to

stand out like a sore thumb by appearing too tense or lax. His palms started to

sweat as he handed in his student ID booklet and his heart missed a beat or two

as the rheumy eyes of the 50-ish woman behind a pair of rimless glasses darted

from his face to his mugshot and back. It was not until they started working on

the problems before he could ease up.

 

In the next two hours had the proctors taken a closer look at the partial

embossed chop over the right bottom corner of his photo, they would've noticed

its poor quality. They might have suspected, double-checked, blown the gaff on

the spot, and both Bill and his chum would've been expelled from uni.

最西边的岛上
Somehow I feel 4 Bill. Tho I haven’t done such 4 friends, I
最西边的岛上
would go2theEnds of theEarth 2 protect&help friends.
7
7grizzly
Thanks. They were from the same clan:-))
7
7grizzly
Friendship is different in the west. Christ vs. Tribe.
最西边的岛上
he’s a man after Ur own heart & vice versa:-)
妖妖灵
揭开面纱~ I wonder how do you know in such details:)
7
7grizzly
I've been a family friend. His dad told me :-)
7
7grizzly
Well said. He has lots of faults but I like him :-)
移花接木
someone was turned back by the airport security

哈尔滨的徐女士在美容院做完整容手术。看着自己美丽的新面孔,心情大好的徐女士于近日准备乘飞机去上海,可在机场接受安检时,由于证件照片和本人相貌差异较大,被安检工作人员认为是冒用他人证件,遭到拒绝登机。无奈之下,徐女士只好改签了机票,并回到医院开来了手术病例等材料,并再次经过安检人员核实后,才得以成功登机。

最西边的岛上
ROFL :-)))Lesson: she should get a new ID with new photo 1st
7
7grizzly
I'd bet 1000 to 1 it's all worth it to Ms. Xu :-)
最西边的岛上
ROFL 2nd time;-))))))
暖冬cool夏
The test wasn't taken on campus?It‘s a great experience tho.
7
7grizzly
It was. And yes. He should've put it on his resume :-))