| 1 | %%% |
| 2 | %% |
| 3 | %% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order. Thanks! |
| 4 | %% |
| 5 | %%% |
| 6 | |
| 7 | %% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1607337301025707400 |
| 8 | %% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread. |
| 9 | %% |
| 10 | [[quoteright:299:[[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tellingafriend.png]]]] |
| 11 | [[caption-width-right:299:And that's why [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loose_lips_sink_ships loose lips might sink ships.]]]] |
| 12 | %% |
| 13 | %% Caption selected per above IP thread. Please do not replace or remove without discussion in the Caption Repair thread: |
| 14 | %% https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1404492079030138900 |
| 15 | %% |
| 16 | ->''"Three can keep a secret, if two of them are dead."'' |
| 17 | -->-- '''Creator/BenjaminFranklin''' |
| 18 | |
| 19 | When someone gives away sensitive information unintentionally because they can't keep it to themselves. The {{Trope Namer|s}} is the famous slogan from UsefulNotes/WorldWarII "Loose Lips Sink Ships". |
| 20 | |
| 21 | Very much TruthInTelevision, and something constantly warned about in the armed forces around the world, as you can never tell when the person on the street you are talking to might secretly be an espionage agent. |
| 22 | |
| 23 | Because TechnologyMarchesOn, it's even easier than ever to get people killed by running your mouth off, thanks to websites such as Website/{{Twitter}}, Website/{{Facebook}}, Website/TVTropes, and [[Website/{{Wikipedia}} that other wiki]]. Always beware that when you talk about something that is privileged or secret, you might as well be standing on a rooftop with a big sign and a megaphone. |
| 24 | |
| 25 | A real danger, even if you don't live in a CityOfSpies, particularly if you unwittingly work near TheMole or are the target of a HoneyTrap (a warning commonly given to members of the military when they are going out into town: [[TheSchlubPubSeductionDeduction "If a girl acts interested in you, and if you're ugly, then it's a trick."]]). |
| 26 | |
| 27 | When this is subverted, it can become FeedTheMole. A subtrope of SayingTooMuch. See also EndangeringNewsBroadcast when it happens to be broadcasted unintentionally. HeKnowsTooMuch is when a villain decides to off a potential threat to prevent this trope from happening. |
| 28 | |
| 29 | See CannotKeepASecret for characters who tend to do this all the time. Compare IdioticPartnerConfession and IllNeverTellYouWhatImTellingYou for even less intelligent versions. Compare ConfidentialityBetrayal. |
| 30 | |
| 31 | ---- |
| 32 | !!Examples: |
| 33 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 34 | |
| 35 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 36 | * ''Anime/TheAnthemOfTheHeart'' happens because Jun blames herself for her parents' divorce, which came about because she blabbed to her mom about seeing her dad commit adultery at a love hotel. |
| 37 | * Sayuri "Eve" Ibe of ''Manga/AsteroidInLove'' is unable to keep secrets well, and this weakness is what leads her to openly reveal her intentions for the Earth Sciences club. |
| 38 | * In ''Anime/GetterRoboGo1991'' episode 11, Gou's insistence on wanting to see Getter Robo's overhaul in progress despite being blocked by some of NISER's staff is what clues in the villains that Getter Robo is currently unavailable, leading to an all out attack on NISER HQ. For his part, Gou [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone completely understands what has happened when he discovers the spybot that relayed this information]], and boards the improvised combat machine Guard Robo with intent of stopping the enemy [[RedemptionEqualsDeath at any cost]]. He even leaves behind a message with teammate Yuji, asking him to inform Professor Tachibana that "this is due to my carelessness and negligence." |
| 39 | * In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', a flashback to the night of the eponymous character's birth shows Kakashi talking to [[spoiler:Rin's]] grave, wherein he talks about said information. Unbeknownst to him, [[spoiler:[[EvilFormerFriend Obito]]]], who Kakashi believes to be dead, is eavesdropping, and learns the secret -- after which he [[spoiler:tries to kill Naruto, then unleashes the Kyubi]]. |
| 40 | [[/folder]] |
| 41 | |
| 42 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 43 | * The plot of ''ComicBook/BlackBishop'' is kicked off when the titular spy gets drunk one night and spills secrets of The Board to her random hook-up... who turns out to be a journalist. Said journalist writes about The Board in her paper and accidentally outs several of its operatives, resulting in their deaths. Desperate to fix the mess she created, Black Bishop tries to track down the other operatives to stop them from being killed. |
| 44 | * ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: Long before she crafted herself a costume and became ComicBook/{{Cheetah}} out of envy for the attention Wonder Woman gets, Priscilla Rich was making a bit of extra money on the side by selling military secrets to Imperial Japan. She gained knowledge of said secrets by being friends with/blackmailing/terrorizing the wives of military officers who shared more than they should have with their spouses. She later terrified a mind reader into working for her, meaning that military wives didn't even need to say anything for Pris to steal information from them. |
| 45 | [[/folder]] |
| 46 | |
| 47 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 48 | * ''Fanfic/AbraxasHrodvitnon'': One of Alan Jonah's men blabbing in fear for his life to Viv and San about "[[TestedOnHumans the others]]" gets him fatally shot by his commander. Given the guy's current circumstances of being trapped in a room with an angry {{kaiju}}, his blabbing only turned his life being cut short from a likelihood into a certainty, but ''still''... |
| 49 | * ''Fanfic/ACertainDrollHivemind'': From "Guest Entry -- Mikoto": Mikoto is annoyed that she can't hack into Judgment's communications as easily as normal, so she wonders if she should use a FakeHigh to get Uiharu to talk about how she set up security. |
| 50 | -->[Kuroko's] precinct uses some really nasty frequency jumping algorithms and encryption tricks that makes it harder than Anti-Skill's stuff. Hmm. Note to self -- buy Uiharu some rum and raisin ice cream and see if that has a placebo effect that gets her tipsy so she talks about how she implemented it. It's starting to get on my nerves that I can't reliably listen in. |
| 51 | * ''Fanfic/ISeeWhatYouDoBehindClosedDoorsMiraculousLadybug'' has Adrien [[ATragedyOfImpulsiveness impulsively]] decide to tell Marinette that he's Chat Noir in order to [[FawltyTowersPlot cover up one of his lies]]. When she asks him what will happen if Ladybug finds out, he reassures her that "M'lady doesn't have to know", unaware that [[TwoPersonLoveTriangle she IS Ladybug]]. Suffice to say, the attempt at deception doesn't end well for him. Especially after he continues flirting with Ladybug, then brazenly lies to Marinette that he was offering to take his partner to dinner because "she's not doing too well in her civilian life". |
| 52 | * Rey is said to be one in ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/19196998 on arkanis it rains every day]]'', as she always bring in whatever hot gossip she hears in the Outpost. When she mentions wanting to learn more about a nearby Jedi church, Tag warns her that she would just get herself killed by her too much talking. |
| 53 | -->'''Tag:''' I mean if you know about this church, then soon the whole galaxy will, and anyone with a grudge against Jedi will come to Jakku and burn the whole bloody village down. |
| 54 | * In the ''Manga/OnePiece'' SelfInsertFic ''Fanfic/ThisBites'': |
| 55 | ** Inserted character Jeremiah Cross manages to keep his secret from the crew for a short while... up until he comes down with a case of Primal Cholera that, among other things, dissolves enough of his mental barriers to have him mention several things over the course of his few days of illness that were impossible for him to know. Once he's treated and finds that out in Chapter 12, his reaction is an immensely justified OhCrap, but fortunately the crew forgives him after TheReveal two chapters later. |
| 56 | ** Vivi's blurting out Crocodile's identity is [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by Cross when she asks to be let in the loop of {{Secret Keeper}}s. |
| 57 | --->'''Cross:''' But pleeeeease promise me that you won't blab anything we need to keep secret to anyone who shouldn't know it?\ |
| 58 | '''Vivi:''' ''({{facefault}})'' T-that was one time! |
| 59 | * ''Fanfic/TwoLetters'' has this serve as the root of Marinette's anger at Alya. While she hoped her 'bestie' understood the importance of keeping their secret identities ''secret'', Alya still went behind her back and let Nino know she was still active as Rena Furtive. Which was a major issue, as Nino has ''severe'' trouble keeping secrets, such as when he kept inviting everyone to join his 'secret society' against Hawkmoth. |
| 60 | ** ''Fanfic/WeightOffYourShoulder'', a RecursiveFanfiction of ''Two Letters'', has Future!Alix attempt to convince Marinette that she should stay the course and "suck it up", claiming that all her suffering will eventually be worth it. However, she accidentally namedrops Monarch, then mutters to herself about how she'd forgotten he hadn't stolen the Miracle Box yet. Marinette is naturally ''horrified'' to hear just how much worse things will get, and when Future!Alix refuses to reveal their enemy's SecretIdentity because she [[SkewedPriorities prioritizes]] ''her'' timeline over preventing all the pain and anguish his reign of terror will cause, Marinette takes matters into her own hands. |
| 61 | [[/folder]] |
| 62 | |
| 63 | [[folder:Film -- Animation]] |
| 64 | * In ''WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}}'', a subtle example is when the titular character becomes star-struck upon learning that the man she danced with at the ball was the prince and that he was looking for her. She becomes so distracted that she forgets to use discretion when preparing for his arrival (dancing and humming to herself) that she unwittingly tips off her stepmother that she was the mystery girl at the ball. |
| 65 | * Twice in Disney's animated film ''[[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989 The Little Mermaid]]'': |
| 66 | ** How Flounder inadvertently got Ariel into trouble with her father, King Triton, for going up to the surface. |
| 67 | ** Let's just say that Sebastian and his big mouth certainly spilt the beans to King Triton who found out about Ariel's rescuing Eric and her grotto. [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone Sebastian soon regrets his mistake afterwards]]. |
| 68 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheMagicRoundabout2005'': |
| 69 | ** After being captured and imprisoned by Zeebad, Dougal unwittingly mentions about the map whilst being questioned by Zeebad, giving the villain the information. Much later, Zeebad corners the group and forces them to give up the map after taking the first diamond. |
| 70 | ** Brian is another one after he unintentionally gave Zeebad the information of the third diamond due to him being blindfolded by his scarf when he landed on the roof of the drill train. |
| 71 | -->'''Dougal''': Hang on, Zeebad doesn't know the diamond's at the roundabout.\ |
| 72 | '''Brian''': Erm, that's not strictly true. Back there on the train, I was confused... and it just slipped out.\ |
| 73 | '''Dylan''': Brian, man!\ |
| 74 | '''Ermintrude''': Well, there's no use crying over spilt milk.\ |
| 75 | '''Dylan''': Easy for you to say. |
| 76 | * At the end of ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'', Homura talks to Kyubey [[spoiler:in the new world remade by Madoka's wish about there being no more Witches born from despairing Magical Girls and subsequently how Madoka became RetGone from everyone's memory save hers, now that she becomes the Law of the Cycle so that she could prevent their suffering.]] Unfortunately, her talking about it all gives the idea of [[spoiler:there being an old system that promises to give more energy to delay the heat death of the universe]] in the first place, leading to the ''[[Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheMovieRebellion Rebellion]]'' movie and specifically [[spoiler:how Homura herself became the Incubators' bait, since she's the only one who knows about Madoka in the remade world.]] |
| 77 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}}'': Emile is happy to keep Rémy's secrets about food at first, but he spills the beans that his little brother has prime access to fresh food. Cue hordes of rats showing up night after night. |
| 78 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobSquarePantsMovie'': Plankton calls Squidward "Inspector Loose Lips" for his foolish mistake in deciding to confront him upon finding out about his evil plan, ''then'' threatening to take it up to King Neptune. This allows Plankton to prevent Squidward from doing this by activating the bucket helmets he's given to the entire populace to turn them into his slaves, with his first order being to subject the Squid to the same fate. |
| 79 | * ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'' has the main character asking a few too many people where the detective's office is, allowing the bad guys to figure out where he's going. |
| 80 | [[/folder]] |
| 81 | |
| 82 | [[folder:Film -- Live-Action]] |
| 83 | * Parodied in a flashback in ''Film/{{Airplane}}'': The hero tells his girlfriend that he's going to be sent out on a mission soon. He then goes on to mention exactly where he's going, what he's going to be bombing, what time of day they'll be attacking, how high they'll be flying, and what direction they'll be coming in from. But he refuses to give her a rough estimate of when he'll be back from the mission because that's classified. |
| 84 | * ''Film/BetterLuckTomorrow'': Virgil is very chatty and has trouble keeping secrets. After he takes over as leader of their gang, the administration busts their test cheating ring because he went around the school bragging about it. |
| 85 | * ''Film/{{Casino}}'': Artie Piscano, the [[TheMafia made man]] in charge of handling the Las Vegas skim, is a perfect example of this: he continuously whines [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas to his mother]] about how he keeps spending money out of his own pocket going to and from Vegas ferrying the skim's cash with no refunding and other gossips about his fellow Mafia members and how they think he is an idiot ([[FatIdiot he is]]) in his business, which has been bugged by the FBI. The information he delivered with his ramblings, and the notebooks full of financial information of the skim he kept and the Feds founds when they raided his house, are single-handedly responsible for [[RiseAndFallGangsterArc bringing the house of cards down]]. |
| 86 | * In ''Film/TheFastestGunAlive'', Vinnie Harold would have just left Cross Creek after stealing the horses if young Bobby Tibbs hadn't boasted that Cross Creek had its own fast gun and showed him the two silver dollars George Temple had shot out of the air. This pushes the paranoid Harold into demanding a showdown with George, and he plans to burn the town down if he doesn't get it. |
| 87 | * In ''Film/HangmenAlsoDie'', Professor Novotny warns his daughter Mascha about this, noting that sensitive information can travel from one person to the next and quickly reach the ears of the Gestapo. When she replies that telling ''him'' shouldn't be a problem, he pulls out a dictionary to really drive the point home: |
| 88 | -->"Definition of 'no one': not any, not one, not a single one, none!" |
| 89 | * ''Film/HiddenInSilence'': Dr. Hirsch isn't very close-mouthed about Fusia offering to hide him, and she ends up with half-a-dozen unplanned (although ultimately not unwelcome) queries for refuge from ghetto inhabitants Dr. Hirsch was indiscreet toward. |
| 90 | * In ''Film/ShootOutAtMedicineBend'', [[InVinoVeritas Nell gets Clegg drunk]] and causes him to blab all of his secrets: from the fact that he and his friends aren't really Brethren to the fact that King has a secret shipment coming into town. |
| 91 | * ''Film/TheSumOfAllFears'' movie has one nuclear scientist's mom giving away some information to Clark that allows him to find the terrorist's nuclear production area. |
| 92 | * ''Film/TalesFromTheDarksideTheMovie'': In the short story "Lover's Vow", a down-on-his-luck artist witnesses a gargoyle killing his bartender friend and the gargoyle makes him promise not to tell anybody what he saw. The artist manages to hold on for about a decade (although his art sees a resurgence [[OneTrackMindedArtist when he begins to draw gargoyle art]]) but he cannot let go of the guilt unless he ''tells'' someone, so he tells his wife… [[CruelTwistEnding which is the gargoyle. And as much as she loves him, the promise has been broken and she must do her part]]. She [[DiedInYourArmsTonight consoles him as she rips his throat out]]. |
| 93 | * Briefly comes up in ''Film/WarGames'', after David and Jennifer find out they accidentally hacked into NORAD and almost caused ANuclearError. After Jennifer gives a speech about how they won't be suspected if they act normal: |
| 94 | -->'''Jennifer''': [[HypocriticalHumor Oh God, this is so unbelievable! Listen, do you think maybe I could call Michelle and tell her?]]\ |
| 95 | '''David''': NO, JENNIFER, DON'T CALL HER!\ |
| 96 | '''Jennifer''': Sorry. All right, I won't. |
| 97 | [[/folder]] |
| 98 | |
| 99 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 100 | * In ''Literature/TheAliceNetwork'', the spy Eve becomes very good at getting men to tell her secrets. After the struggle it took to draw out René, she's surprised and amused at how easy it is to get her superior, Major Allenton, to tell her Captain Cameron's code name. |
| 101 | * ''[[http://www.kipling.org.uk/poems_kingsjest.htm The Ballad of the King's Jest]]'' by Creator/RudyardKipling, about a talkative man running into the Great Game and discovering that his boss in Kabul doesn't have so much patience that this could end well for him. |
| 102 | * In ''Literature/GatheringBlue'', Kira tells councilman Jamison that her dyeing teacher claimed that the woods surrounding the village aren't actually full of "beasts." [[spoiler:This gets Annabella killed since the council invented the beasts in order to scare the villagers.]] |
| 103 | * ''Literature/HarryPotter'' |
| 104 | ** Rubeus Hagrid in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone'' does this several times. Trust him with your life, but not your secrets. The [[Film/HarryPotter movie version]] even gave him a catchphrase relating to this: "I shouldn'ta told ya that!" |
| 105 | ** Bertha Jorkins in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'' is no better at keeping secrets than Hagrid. As Sirius says it once: "She was a bit dim, but she had an excellent memory for gossip. It used to get her into a lot of trouble; [[TooDumbToLive she never knew when to keep her mouth shut]]." |
| 106 | * Jim Hickman was spoken of as being this by Mac [=McCullum=] in the Literature/LeftBehind book ''The Mark'' when he accidentally lets slip to Nicolae Carpathia sensitive information shared in confidence by Nicolae to his close associates in the Global Community top brass, which leads to Ramon Santiago's death and Jim's own suicide. |
| 107 | * ''Literature/NinaTanleven'': In ''The Ghost Wore Gray'', Baltimore unwittingly shares the secret of Captain Gray’s diary with the villain of the book. He admits later that he’s paid dearly for his mistake (the villain knocked him out and stole the diary). |
| 108 | * In ''Literature/{{Noob}}'', [[ConMan Gaea]] had to stop playing her previous {{MMORPG}} because a friend of hers couldn't keep her mouth shut about the scams she was pulling on other players. That friend is playing her current MMORPG also, but Gaea's ManipulativeBastard habits where getting an embryonic OpenSecret status by the time they ran into each other, making the info less sensitive. |
| 109 | * The undoing of more than one of Literature/{{Parker}}'s carefully planned heists in the novels of Richard Srak; usually to Parker's disgust. |
| 110 | * ''Literature/ProfessorMmaasLecture'': Professor Soul's Second Assistant, a termite who is a born snitch -- literally. He's been born with auditory organs all over his body and is constantly registering so much input that he feels a physical need to dump this baggage out of his memory onto a number of interested termites. |
| 111 | * ''Literature/TortallUniverse'': In ''[[Literature/TrickstersDuet Trickster's Queen]]'', Sarai Balitang refuses to not speak out against the horrible injustices perpetrated by the Copper Isles' ruling family. The things she says are ''accurate'', but the Rittevons are notoriously paranoid and touchy and have already arrested one very popular nobleman for trying to tactfully suggest that they not be quite so brutal, so it's a really bad idea. She also tells members of her social circle where there are anti-listening spells, another unwise move. |
| 112 | * While making the preparations for the expedition to the eponymous ''Literature/TreasureIsland'', Squire Trelawney blabs to anyone on Bristol who will listen about the massive treasure they seek. This despite being explicitly warned against this by Doctor Livesey and knowing there is a gang of pirates after the map and treasure. [[spoiler:His crew gets massively infiltrated by pirates as a result.]] |
| 113 | [[/folder]] |
| 114 | |
| 115 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 116 | * An episode of ''Series/{{ER}}'' has two nurses talking about the two children of a patient who had been in an accident comforting each other... which ended up leading to BrotherSisterIncest. Unfortunately, they unknowingly were walking past the patient's husband, leading to a near-shooting incident (the father managed to calm himself down and came clean about what he had nearly done). The doctors were not pleased about the violation of Patient-Doctor Confidentiality and the incident it nearly caused. |
| 117 | * ''{{Series/Hanna}}'': Carmichael takes an interest in the Utrax program because he wants to use it to cover up a serious indiscretion of his. While drunk, he tried to recruit a friend into the Pioneer group and revealed too much information about their plans. The friend was repulsed by what Pioneer was doing and stole a document from Carmichael that could expose the entire conspiracy. If the leaders of Pioneer find out that Carmichael was the leak, he will be killed for it. [[spoiler:When Marrissa finds this out, she blackmails Carmichael into covering up her and Hanna's actions.]] |
| 118 | * ''Series/{{JAG}}'': In "People v. Rabb", when Admiral Chegwidden says that what he's about to say is sensitive, Bud replies that ''[[DiscussedTrope My loose lips will sink no ships]]''. |
| 119 | * ''Series/{{Justified}}'': |
| 120 | ** Boyd Crowder's latest heroin shipment was delayed and to placate his dealers he tells them that the shipment is arriving tomorrow evening. The next day one of the dealers is approached by a female junkie who offers to give him a blow job if he tells her when he will get new heroin. He obliges and sure enough, Boyd's shipment is hijacked and the men guarding it are killed. |
| 121 | ** One would think that a mob boss like Sammy Tonin knew how to keep his mouth shut about the murder he committed. However, Sammy has gone through a VillainousBreakdown and is high on drugs most of the time. He brags to his business partners about the murder and how he had help from a federal agent. One of those business partners gets arrested and trades that information to the cops. |
| 122 | * ''Series/OnceUponATime'': Do not trust Snow White to keep a secret. |
| 123 | * Barbra Jean from ''Series/{{Reba}}'' has this reputation, and for good reason. Throughout the series, she's blabbed out things quite a few times, such as telling Reba's eldest daughter and son-in-law about her youngest daughter's decision to move in with Reba's ex-husband -- even after promising not to blab. |
| 124 | * On ''Series/{{Turn}}'' this is a rich source of information for spies on both sides. |
| 125 | ** When Abraham strikes up a conversation with some Hessian soldiers, he easily finds out that they are going be to quartered for the winter in the town of Trenton. George Washington uses that information to attack the unprepared Hessians and defeat them at the Battle of Trenton |
| 126 | ** A wandering minister turns out to be a British spy. He exploits the fact that the American soldiers will talk freely with a man of the cloth and he passes any information he gleams to the British. In turn, he is discovered because a British officer talks about this in a public tavern where an American spy overhears it. |
| 127 | ** Robert Townsend became part owner of a tavern specifically so he would be able to eavesdrop on British officers talking too openly after they had a few drinks. His business partner is a Loyalist but uses the trope himself to get scoops for the newspaper he publishes. Robert is thus able to sneak into his partner's office and read a story that is supposed to be published in a few days after a surprise British attack has been launched. Robert passes the information to the Americans who attack first and rout the British. |
| 128 | * ''Series/TheWire'': Randy Wagstaff gets caught up in tragedy due to a series of incidents of loose lips; Little Kevin asks him to set up Lex for an ambush, and later tells Randy that Lex is dead and disappeared. Randy later gets into trouble at school and to get out of trouble, tells the vice principal about the murder. After he talks with police, Herc then lets slip to Little Kevin that they know from somebody that he was involved, and Kevin immidiately asks if it's Randy. Little Kevin is then killed by Marlo for involving an extra party and telling him too much, and while he won't have his men retaliate against Randy directly, Marlo orders the word to be put out that Randy is a snitch, which results in him being first beat up at school, his home burned, and ending up at the bottom of the pecking order at the group home. |
| 129 | ** Sergei accidentally spills the Greek's body disposal MO in a casual phone conversation with White Mike that leads the Major Crimes Unit to link the dead Turkish sailor to him. |
| 130 | ** [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] when the team investigates Prop Joe's organization. Joe's nephew Drac speaks way too openly on the phone, and the team try to set him up to be promoted to get him talking too much higher up the chain, but that never happens. Meanwhile, Cheese is extremely cautious on the phone, and the team think they struck gold when the catch him talking about shooting Dawg on the phone. However, Dawg in question was his fighting dog, and Cheese had performed a MercyKill. While Cheese's friend did also shoot the person responsible for Dawg's injury, he is savvy enough to keep his mouth shut after the police overplay their hand. |
| 131 | [[/folder]] |
| 132 | |
| 133 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 134 | * "Secret" by The Pierces (which became the opening theme for ''Series/PrettyLittleLiars'') paraphrases the quote at the top of the page: "Two can keep a secret if one of them is dead". |
| 135 | * "Loose lips sink ships" is in the chorus of "Slip Of The Lip" by Music/{{Ratt}}. |
| 136 | * A line from Music/TaylorSwift's "I Know Places": |
| 137 | -->Loose lips sink ships all the damn time\ |
| 138 | Not this time. |
| 139 | [[/folder]] |
| 140 | |
| 141 | [[folder:Radio]] |
| 142 | * At one point in the ''Radio/StarWarsRadioDramas'', Princess Leia is trying to get information out of an Imperial-connected nobleman and arguing about the Empire's love of weapons programs when she accidentally lets slip the phrase "Death Star". Since that's still an extremely classified code name at the moment, he's immediately suspicious that she knows it. She tries to play it off as a coincidental metaphor, but the jig is up and violence ensues, eventually leading to the events of the movie. |
| 143 | [[/folder]] |
| 144 | |
| 145 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 146 | * ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'' has this trope used to rather devastating effect against its invoker. After a fight, [[BadBoss Hazama]] tells [[PluckyGirl Makoto]], in no uncertain terms, about [[MadScientist Relius Clover's]] "random and untoward" interest in her before making an attempt on her life (and [[HarmlessFreezing getting frozen by Jin for it]]). He ''really'' should have picked a better compliment in hindsight. [[labelnote:Why?]]Hazama sends Relius after Makoto, and he eventually 'escorts' Jin out of Ronin-gai as bait. Bang's keen-eyed disciple spots the masked creeper and reports to his superior, who passes the info to Makoto -- with this information and Relius' mention in the report on Noel, she [[TakeAThirdOption chooses to send Bang after Jin (and Relius) while she attends to Noel and Tsubaki]]. The long-term consequences are still being explored, but without Relius to restrain her, [[SpannerInTheWorks Hazama's plans fell apart soon after]].[[/labelnote]] |
| 147 | * Parodied in ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'' when the green tutorial text mentions if some segments seem too tough, it tells the player they can change the difficulty if necessary. Then tries to withhold the info that the player would have to reset the class trial by doing that, even as the text box clearly shows the particular information being said. |
| 148 | * In ''VisualNovel/DaughterForDessert'', Moe Mortelli lets slip several clues that the protagonist is, or is about to be in, serious trouble that would upend his life. This leads to the protagonist breaking into Mortelli’s office to find out what the detective knows but isn’t telling him. |
| 149 | * In ''VisualNovel/DoubleHomework'', Henry lets the protagonist’s surprise party slip to him while everybody’s still planning it. |
| 150 | * ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' includes propaganda that's related to the common loose lips sink ships posters. At Helios One, it includes the "telling your wife" scenario, and "telling your drinking buddies", showing the route on how information reaches the Chinese spies. |
| 151 | * ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'': The ''Alliance News Network'' twitter updates on the Reaper invasion of Earth, which included details on where civilians were able to get military protection so they could escape Earth. [[spoiler:Emily Wong]] realized too late that the Reapers had been reading the tweets to find out where the evacuation point was so they could attack it. |
| 152 | * ''VideoGame/RiseOfTheThirdPower'': [[spoiler:The two times he goes on a date with Brooke, Rowan gets drunk and talks about his party's activities. Since Brooke is the Arkadyan spy, Sparrow, this leads to Arkadya always being one step ahead of the party.]] |
| 153 | * A bizarre meta example: a ''VideoGame/WarThunder'' player claiming to be a Challenger 2 tank commander [[https://www.pcgamer.com/war-thunder-fan-says-tank-is-inaccurate-leaks-classified-military-documents-to-prove-it/ leaked classified military manuals]] to prove that Gaijin had misrepresented the tank in-game as being weaker than it really was. Mere months later, [[https://www.pcgamer.com/war-thunder-fan-leaks-classified-military-documents-to-win-an-argument-about-tanksagain/ someone leaked the manual for the LeClerc tank]] to prove a similar point. Gaijin eventually had to beg people to stop posting classified secrets in a public forum for video games, out of a very justified fear that these confidential manuals would end up in unfriendly hands and that they would be on the hook for the consequences. The plea didn't take, as [[https://videogames.si.com/news/war-thunder-military-secret-leaks-f-16 classified details about the F-16]] were leaked after the release of the 'modern jets' update, and a player in China leaked [[https://www.polygon.com/23152203/war-thunder-chinese-tank-weapon-leak-classified-military-secrets-forum confidential ammunition handling documents]] to prove that Gaijin had wrongly underpowered Chinese ammunition. |
| 154 | [[/folder]] |
| 155 | |
| 156 | [[folder:Web Animation]] |
| 157 | * ''Webanimation/{{hololive}}'': |
| 158 | ** In a meta sense, this has sometimes come up. After the debut of Hololive Japan Generation 2, Cover Corporation has since made previous experience in content creation a requirement for applying to them. This means that many members of Hololive were streamers prior to joining, and a number of them still stream independently of Hololive using their old accounts. Because of this, on occasion when streaming using these original accounts they sometimes slip up (most often switching to their Hololive talking styles like referring to themselves by their Hololive names in the third person). Generally they're very careful about anything that could actually cause problems, however there have been some cases. |
| 159 | *** Prior to the debut of [[Characters/HololiveJapanGenerationFour the fourth generation]], the one who would become Kiryu Coco was streaming and accidentally let slip she'd be working for Cover in the near future. She jokingly asked her viewers not to report her to Hololive, but shortly after the stream in question was privated. |
| 160 | *** This was the reason given for the termination of [[Characters/HololiveJapanGenerationThreeFantasy Uruha Rushia]] on 24th February 2022, with [[https://reddit.com/r/Hololive/comments/t03p7x/notice_regarding_termination_of_our_contract_with/ Cover Corp.'s official notice]] specifically mentioning her leaking information to outside parties. Rushia at the time was the most superchatted member of Hololive, regularly pulling in wave after wave of red (i.e. the highest level) superchats from viewers, but that wasn't enough to save her. |
| 161 | *** On 16th January 2024, [[Characters/HololiveJapanGenerationOne Yozora Mel]] had her contract with Cover Corp. terminated due to likewise leaking confidential information. Mel's case is an even better example of this trope than Rushia's, as according to her [[note]] Via an alternate alter ego she used before she joined Hololive, as by that point she could no longer access her official Hololive accounts[[/note]] she was speaking to a friend and accidentally let confidential information slip, and that information later got out. In an example of ItCantBeHelped, she accepted that she had to go, and was at least allowed to post a farewell message on her Twitter account. She also received messages from the likes of Cover Corp president Yagoo and prominent staff member A-chan expressing their thanks to her for everything she'd done, adding to the sense that had it been possible Cover would not have gone so far as to have terminated her contract. It should be pointed out that she had no less than 3 sponsored streams scheduled, so her termination did in fact affect Cover financially (meaning they'd have reason to try to avoid going that far), but she'd breached her contract and there was no other option. |
| 162 | [[/folder]] |
| 163 | |
| 164 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 165 | * In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', Mr. Verres [[https://www.egscomics.com/comic/tsos-48 berates]] Grace for "recklessness and loose lips" for her actions during "The Secret of Sam" storyline. |
| 166 | [[/folder]] |
| 167 | |
| 168 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 169 | |
| 170 | * ItWebOriginal/DinaMarino and Siria Ashen accidentally reveal on Instagram Live that [[spoiler:Siria committed financial fraud and identity theft in order to be enrolled into Seoul National University]]. |
| 171 | |
| 172 | * Website/TheOtherWiki has [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_is_in_the_real_world an entry]] explaining the dangers of putting sensitive information (or at least, information that can come back to bite you in the ass) on Wikipedia. |
| 173 | [[/folder]] |
| 174 | |
| 175 | [[folder:Web Videos]] |
| 176 | * ''WebVideo/DrHorriblesSingAlongBlog'': The eponymous IneffectualSympatheticVillain has a blog, which he uses to talk to his fans about various things he's done and his plans for future schemes. [[spoiler:This backfires on him in Act II when it turns out his viewing audience includes [[ArchEnemy Captain Hammer]] and the LAPD.]] |
| 177 | [[/folder]] |
| 178 | |
| 179 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 180 | * ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'': When investigating [[spoiler:Sarah Lynn's death]], IntrepidReporter Paige Sinclair hits upon the idea of trying to get info from attendees of the AA meetings she was said to have been in. Maximilian is skeptical, since the second 'A' stands for 'Anonymous' after all, but Paige claims that people just wouldn't be able to resist gossiping about celebrities. Sure enough they find one that remembers [[spoiler:Sarah Lynn]] being there, along with a horse whose name he couldn't remember (Bojack, obviously), but he ''did'' remember the name of the girl from New Mexico the horse talked about, leading to Paige's next move: [[spoiler:to interview Penny.]] |
| 181 | * In ''WesternAnimation/CentralPark'', Season 1 "[[Recap/CentralParkS1E6RivalBusker Rival Busker]]", Paige is able to get a tip about Bitsy's activities when Doug sees Bitsy greet Dmitry at her hotel and Dmitry tells her he looks forward to seeing Bitsy's secret ballroom, which Bitsy points out it's not a secret anymore since he said it out loud. After they enter the hotel, Doug calls Paige and tells her about it. |
| 182 | * ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'': In "Plane Daffy," an American carrier pigeon is being seduced by Hatta Mari and starts blabbing out military secrets after drinking a Mickey-slipped drink. |
| 183 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'': |
| 184 | ** This is Lincoln's flaw in "Brawl in the Family". After Lori and Leni get into a spat over buying the same exact dress, he goes to their room to help them resolve their argument, but he accidentally ends up revealing a DarkSecret one thinks of the other, which reignites the fight. He does it again at the end of the episode. |
| 185 | ** In "[[Recap/TheLoudHouseS3E12GownAndOutBreakingDad Breaking Dad]]", when Lynn Sr. calls Rita to tell her that the daycare closed for the day due to one of the toddlers flooding the place by clogging the toilet with a whole diaper, Rita tells him she can't watch Lily due to her spending the day at the dentist office filling all five of the Fox Quintuplets' cavities, which could cancel Lynn Sr.'s plans to attend the Cowbella Music Festival. While Rita is treating Pam, the sole female of the quints, she lets it slip that there's only enough nitrous oxide (laughing gas) for four of them and Pam becomes worried she won't be getting gassed for her treatment. |
| 186 | * In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' Season 5 premiere, Pinkie Pie spills the beans that some ponies miss their cutie marks when visiting a small village where every pony has their cutie mark taken away, prompting the village leader to remove ''their'' cutie marks. |
| 187 | * Creator/NormanMclaren of the Creator/NationalFilmBoardOfCanada was even less subtle in ''[[https://www.nfb.ca/film/keep_your_mouth_shut Keep Your Mouth Shut]]'' with a cackling Nazi skull thanking all the blabbermouths in Canada for giving away such good intelligence. |
| 188 | * The ''WesternAnimation/PrivateSnafu'' short "Spies": Snafu brags about how he'll never tell the secret information he knows, but he carelessly drops hints which are eagerly picked up by hidden spies. |
| 189 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheProudFamily'': In the episode "[[Recap/TheProudFamilyS2E22ThelmaAndLuis Thelma and Luis]]", the kids find out that a nursing home [=LaCienega's Papi was sent to is actually a front for an illegal okra plantation=], and Suga Mama is the only one of the adults who believes the kids, at which point they break in to rescue him. While Suga Mama and Papi go on the run to avoid its evil administrator, who is now hunting him down, and the Boulevardezes tell the Prouds what's really going on, Penny lets its slip that she, [=LaCienega, Dijonay, Zoey and Sticky=] helped Suga Mama break him out. |
| 190 | * One episode of ''WesternAnimation/StarcomTheUSSpaceforce'' revolves around this. When Cadet Flash Moskowitz learns that he'll be accompanying Dash and Slim on a trip to Mars and Saturn, he boasts about it on the academy message boards, getting the attention of Shadow Force spies. After later learning that they're transporting a prototype oscillation hyperthruster to Saturn, Flash happily shares this classified information with the first person to bump into him on the street: a disguised Shadow Force general. |
| 191 | * In ''WesternAnimation/{{Trollz}}'', Topaz bragging about where the Trollz are going for vacation leads to more and more people being told, and soon BigBad Simon catches wind of it. |
| 192 | [[/folder]] |
| 193 | |
| 194 | [[folder:Real Life]] |
| 195 | * UsefulNotes/WorldWarII: |
| 196 | ** As mentioned above, the [[TropeNamers Trope Namer]] is the American slogan reminding people to be careful what they talk about in public, lest Axis spies pick up valuable clues. Another poster showed a Nazi putting a puzzle together that said "The Convoy Sails for England Tonight". The caption was "bits of careless talk are pieced together by the enemy." |
| 197 | ** One of the British counterparts to this was [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_propaganda_during_World_War_II#Careless_talk "Careless Talk Costs Lives,"]] although variations of "Keep mum" were also used. |
| 198 | ** In UsefulNotes/NaziGermany, there was the slogan "Feind hört mit!" ("The enemy listens in!"). |
| 199 | ** World War II Japanese sub-hunters habitually set their depth charges to a depth shallower than the diving capacity of most US submarines -- until Andrew Jackson May, a Congressman, mentioned this in a press conference. The Japanese immediately started setting their depth charges deeper, likely costing several submarines and their crews because one of their elected representatives couldn't keep his mouth shut. |
| 200 | * Journalist Geraldo Rivera in early 2003, while Rivera was traveling with the 101st Airborne Division in Iraq during a Fox News broadcast, Rivera began to disclose an upcoming operation, even going so far as to draw a map in the sand for his audience. The military immediately issued a firm denunciation of his actions, saying it put the operation at risk, and nearly expelled Rivera from Iraq. |
| 201 | ** [[http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-april-1-2003/cry-me-a-rivera Parodied]] by ''Series/TheDailyShow'', which saw this as Rivera getting overexcited about establishing his IntrepidReporter credentials. |
| 202 | --->'''Creator/StephenColbert:''' He's the only reporter out here who's got the cojones to walk it like he talks it! He can't be constrained by concern for the safety and security of men who have invited him to join them at great risk to both themselves and their military objective! If he gets everybody killed, so be it. He's not gonna pussy out. |
| 203 | ** As a general rule, war correspondents are supposed to avert this by saying things like "This is John Smith, reporting from somewhere in X" rather than "This is John Smith, reporting from City Z in the nation of X" unless the story being reported is the fact that they just took Z, to keep anyone on the other side who is listening in to the broadcast to figure out where their enemies are. |
| 204 | * News of the impending attack on Goose Green during the Falklands War was released by the British government and broadcast on the BBC World Service while the troops were still advancing on the town (and hadn't yet been detected by the Argentinian forces). |
| 205 | * Nondisclosure agreements ([=NDAs=]) is what supposed to keep people from talking in regards to business deals or other sensitive information. If the person breaks the NDA, they can be fined, lose their job, or get sued, depending on the circumstances. |
| 206 | * People that work as Public Relations (or PR) are tasked with making sure that whatever is said about their company doesn't break any rules or paint the company in a bad light, even if it's the truth. Interviews are usually done through a PR or with someone who has a PR on standby to make sure that person doesn't say anything damaging. This is also a legitimate reason why social media accounts belonging to employees are monitored. [[http://winningdemocrats.com/racist-gets-fired-after-posting-disgusting-comments-about-michelle-obama-on-twitter-images/ People have been sacked for speaking out on social media in a way that brings bad publicity to the company.]] |
| 207 | * In 2015, a localizer for Creator/{{Nintendo}} of America appeared on a video game podcast. One of the topics the person talked about was why Nintendo doesn't bother localizing certain games. Not only did the localizer break their NDA, but they said that Nintendo doesn't localize certain games if the company thinks it won't make them money. While it is the harsh truth, it makes Nintendo sound like they prioritize money over what the fans want. The localizer was promptly fired. |
| 208 | * Creator/TomHolland has gotten a reputation for spilling secrets for movies he's in. It's gotten so bad that he wasn't allowed to read the whole script for ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar''. The directors, the Russo brothers, joke [[spoiler:about how allowing him to improvise his death scene was the only way to keep him from spoiling it.]] He spoiled that he was staring in the film adaptation of ''VideoGame/{{Uncharted}}'' by posting a picture of himself playing the games "for research" to Instagram. He even spoiled the plot of ''Film/JurassicWorldFallenKingdom'' to Creator/ChrisPratt despite Pratt being the star of the movie. This habit of his even got lampshaded in the second trailer for ''Film/SpiderManFarFromHome'', which began with Tom telling the audience that the trailer had spoilers for ''Film/AvengersEndgame''. |
| 209 | * Among the UsefulNotes/YanksWithTanks, [[https://corpuslegalis.com/us/code/title10/cited/art-101-improper-use-of-countersign Article 101 of the UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice)]] makes the improper use of a countersign[[note]]As if divulgating passwords[[/note]] a capital offense due to this trope: after all, divulgating the password to a military base can means that an enemy unit can infiltrate it, and the password to a server might means all the informations contained there are compromised. |
| 210 | * After CIA agent [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Welch Richard Welch]] was murdered in Greece on 1977 by [[DirtyCommies Revolutionary Organization 17 November]] [[WesternTerrorist (17N)]], the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligence_Identities_Protection_Act Intelligence Identities Protection Act]] made a crime to reveal someone is a covert agent. |
| 211 | * A [[https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktoker-arrested-filmed-ukraine-military-near-mall-later-bombed-2022-3 Ukrainian man was arrested]] after posting a [=TikTok=] video of military vehicles parked near a shopping mall that was later blown up by Russians. |
| 212 | [[/folder]] |
| 213 |
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/context.php
FollowingContext Main / LooseLips
Go To
- Show Spoilers
- Night Vision
- Sticky Header
- Wide Load
