🍃 Come Clean, to
“Come clean, to” - To tell the whole truth, to confess. A slangy Americanism dating from the early twentieth century, it most often appeared in crime novels and pertained to confessing guilt. Listed in a collection of argot published in 1919, the term became a cliché through its overuse in murder mysteries. P. G. Wodehouse played on it in Sam the Sudden (1925): “You’d best come clean, Soapy, and have a showdown.”
💬 Synonyms
- Fess Up: Another informal way to admit the truth.
- Spill the Beans: To reveal a secret.
- Raise the White Flag: To surrender or admit defeat.
- Lay it All Out: To present everything honestly.
💬 Antonyms
- Cover Up: To hide the truth.
- Keep Under Wraps: To keep something secret.
- Lie Through Your Teeth: To lie boldly and unashamedly.
- Sweep Under the Rug: To ignore or conceal something.
😂 Humor-filled Quotes 🌟
- “Honesty may be the best policy, but it’s important to remember that, apparently, by process of elimination, dishonesty is the second-best policy.” — George Carlin
- “To err is human, but to admit it, now that takes courage.” — Unknown
- “Confession is good for the soul but extremely bad for the reputation.” — Mark Twain
📚 Literary References
- Sam the Sudden by P.G. Wodehouse
- The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Various instances of confessions)
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (Themes of truth and justice)
🎵 Songs Worth a Listen
- “Confessions Part II” by Usher
- “Sorry” by Justin Bieber
- “The Truth” by India Arie
🎥 Movies That Tell It All
- A Few Good Men (1992) - The famous “You can’t handle the truth!” scene.
- Liar Liar (1997) - A hilarious take on always having to tell the truth.
- Catch Me If You Can (2002) - The cat-and-mouse game of a high-profile fraud now coming clean.
### Which idiom means "to confess the whole truth"?
- [x] Come clean
- [ ] Keep the dirt
- [ ] Hide in the shadows
- [ ] Deflect the blame
> **Explanation:** "Come clean" means to confess the whole truth, often after a period of secrecy. The others imply hiding or diverting from the truth.
### True or False: "Spill the beans" is a synonym for "come clean"
- [x] True
- [ ] False
> **Explanation:** "Spill the beans" means to reveal a secret, much like "come clean."
### Which expression is similar in meaning to "come clean"?
- [x] Fess up
- [ ] Lock it down
- [ ] Color the truth
- [ ] Obfuscate the facts
> **Explanation:** "Fess up" means to admit or reveal the truth, similar to "come clean."
### Complete the expression: "What you do in the dark will _______."
- [x] come to light
- [ ] stay hidden forever
- [ ] remain dark
- [ ] keep haunting you
> **Explanation:** "What you do in the dark will come to light" emphasizes the idea that the truth will eventually be revealed.
### True or False: "Lie through your teeth" is an antonym for "come clean."
- [x] True
- [ ] False
> **Explanation:** "Lie through your teeth" is indeed an antonym as it means to lie boldly, quite the opposite of confessing.
✨ Thought-Provoking Farewell
“Always remember, honesty has a power that very few people can handle. It might not get you the most friends, but it will get you the very best ones.”
-C. Stanford Confesser
