The Meaning of Secret

The word secret should have never existed.

This is a secret, do not tell anybody.

Heard about this sentence countless times? Oh when this sentence comes out, usually it means hot tea. Super hot tea if they whisper it.

Let’s look at the meaning of secret.

People often say something like the sentence above, but when you look at the meaning of secret, that sentence is not supposed to exist. The meaning of secret according to dictionary is “not known or seen by others.”. But the fact that the sentence above exists, negate the meaning of secret itself.

The fact that the sentence exists means that it is known by others, meaning it is not a secret. A secret once known by others will spread like wildfire. You wish to tell your secret to somebody, when you tell them, your secret becomes theirs too. Now, just like you, they would want to tell their close ones their secrets, after-all most people have several groups of friends and several close friends from different groups. And so the “This is a secret, do not tell anybody.” words keep on going. Without realizing it, it has become a public secret.

This is why the word secret should have never existed. If you have a secret, never tell anybody at all, bury it deep inside you. If you do this, the word secret will have no use, because you never talk about secret. And if you never use the word, how can the word exist?