tell tales—
1. tell about smb. who has done smth. wrong; inform upon a person:
- Teachers hate children who tell tales about their friends.
2. give away private information to outsiders:
- You’ve no business to know that. Somebody’s been telling tales.
3. tell a made-up story with the object of deceiving or arousing sympathy:
- David’s mother was worried because he was always telling her tales.
Note: The expression does not fully correlate in meaning with the phrase tell tales out of school— = tell tales 2:
- He had learned the eleventh commandment [do not tell tales out of school] and was the safest confidant to be found.
tell the tale—
1. = tell tales 3:
- “What did you tell me when you borrowed the money?” “Oh, we all tell the tale when we want money.”
2. be significant or revealing:
- Had he been fired or had he quit. I flipped through the papers, looking for references that might tell the tale.
Note:
a) The expression does not correlate in meaning with the phrase live to tell the tale—survive a very dangerous or frightening experience (and so be able to tell about it afterwards):
- Once she took a laxative overdose and the doctors did warn us that if she did it again there was no way she would live to tell the tale.
b) The expression does not correlate in meaning with the phrase talk the talk—(coll.) speak fluently or convincingly about smth. so as to please or impress others:
- They will hold seminars and they will talk the talk but in the end they will do nothing of substance to end the problem.