Heard It Through The GrapevineHow a Civil War invention named our rumors
From the show
History of PhrasesDiscover the high-tech origins of a phrase about low-tech gossip. During the American Civil War, hastily strung telegraph wires sagged and twisted from tree to tree, resembling wild grapevines. While official dispatches traveled the wires, the unreliable rumors that circulated alongside them became known as the "grapevine telegraph"—a network as tangled and doubtful as the physical lines themselves.
0:00
3:50