loose lips sink ships

English

US WWII poster

Etymology

Shortening of a wartime slogan from World War II.

Proverb

loose lips sink ships

1. Saying too much or releasing confidential information can have dangerous consequences.
   • 2000, Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin, Anchor, published 2007, →ISBN, page 448:

     Loose Lips Sink Ships, said the wartime poster. Of course the ships will all sink anyway, sooner or later.

   • 2014, Crystal Chan, Bird, Random House, →ISBN, page 59:

     ‘Loose lips sink ships,’ she spat at Dad once, when they were arguing about Grandpa, but ‘loose lips killed our son.’

Related terms

• loose-lipped (adj)

 

Translations

saying too much or releasing confidential information can have dangerous consequences

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 禍從口出／祸从口出 (zh) (huòcóngkǒuchū)

• Finnish: älä puhu sivu suun
• French: propos inconsidérés, bateaux coulés
• German: Reden ist Silber, Schweigen ist Gold (de)
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Mongolian: амсар сэтэрхий аяганд цай бүү хий, ам сул хүнд нууцаа бүү дэлгэ (amsar seterxii ajagand caj büü xii, am sul xünd nuucaa büü delge)
• Polish: nieostrożne gadanie zatapia statki
• Russian: болту́н — нахо́дка для шпио́на (boltún — naxódka dlja špióna, literally “a chatterbox is a treasure for a spy”)
• Spanish: por la boca muere el pez, palabra y piedra suelta no tiene vuelta (literally “a word and stone once thrown cannot return”), palabra de boca, piedra de honda (literally “word from the mouth, stone from a slingshot”)

Further reading

• loose lips sink ships on Wikipedia.Wikipedia