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Try more episodes of 6 Minute English:

• Is bitter better?
• Talking at the table
• Eating for two

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Introduction

Are secrets always negative? Or can they be positive too? Neil and Beth discuss this and teach you some useful vocabulary.

This week's question

While travelling in Indonesia, BBC TV presenter, Joanna Lumley, believes she discovered the unknown secret ingredient in Coca Cola. But what is it?

a) cinnamon
b) nutmeg or,
c) ginger

Listen to the programme to hear the answer.

Vocabulary

spill the beans
(idiom) tell people secret information

guilty pleasure
activity that you really enjoy, but which also gives you a feeling of guilt or shame for liking it

marriage proposal
asking someone to marry you

the whole point of (something)
the most important reason or purpose for something

evil eye
superstition in which someone causes injury or bad luck through a look

burdensome
worrying, troublesome, distressing

TRANSCRIPT

Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript.

Neil
Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I’m Neil.

Beth
And I’m Beth. Can you keep a secret, Neil? Or are you someone who spills the beans? That’s an idiom meaning to tell people a secret.

Neil
I’m pretty good at keeping secrets, Beth, unless it’s giving away the ending of a movie – I’m always doing that!

Beth
Whether you find it hard to keep secrets, or take them with you to the grave, keeping secrets is often considered something bad. But what if some secrets could actually make your life better?

Neil
Now, psychological studies are uncovering a more positive side to secrets, suggesting that keeping good news to yourself can actually make you feel more alive, especially if you plan to share your secret with someone later. In this programme, we’ll be discussing the advantages of keeping secrets, and, as usual, we'll be learning some useful new vocabulary as well.

Beth
But first, I have a question for you, Neil. One very famous secret is the recipe for the world’s favourite soft drink, Coca-Cola. While travelling in Indonesia, BBC TV presenter, Joanna Lumley, believes she discovered the unknown secret ingredient. So, is Coca-Cola’s secret spice:

a) cinnamon?
b) nutmeg? or,
c) ginger?

Neil
Well, I don't know so I'm going to guess it’s nutmeg.

Beth
OK, I’ll reveal the secret at the end of the programme. This year, a study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology introduced a new term to the discussion: positive secrets. Here, the study’s author, Dr Michael Slepian of Columbia University, discusses positive secrets with BBC World Service programme, Newsday:

Dr Michael Slepian
Yeah, so, what's interesting about the idea of positive secrets is, you know, there's a set of them where the plan is to never reveal them… you know, we might say a guilty pleasure is something we enjoy but don't want to tell other people about. And then there's other secrets that the whole point of keeping them secret is to reveal them, you know, the surprising marriage proposal, the pregnancy announcement, unwrapping a gift that you've that you've wrapped…

Neil
Dr Slepian distinguishes between positive and negative secrets. Negative secrets hurt people and damage relationships. They’re like a guilty pleasure, an activity you really enjoy doing, but which also gives you a feeling of guilt or shame for doing it.

Beth
Positive secrets, on the other hand, include things like marriage proposals, the act of asking someone to marry you. Revealing positive secrets lets us share and celebrate those things with others. In fact, the whole point of positive secrets is to reveal them. Here, the phrase the whole point is used to mean the most important reason or purpose for something.

Neil
Because positive secrets give us the feeling we are in control of our emotions, they energise us. However, Dr Slepian’s research comes from the United States. Would the results be the same in other cultures and countries? Here’s Dr Slepian again, talking with BBC World Service programme, Newsday:

Devina Gupta
In some cultures, it is said that if it's good news, especially around pregnancy, don't share it till the time, you know, it's safe, because they feel that it may lead to some negative vibes… evil eye as many people call it. Is that also a part of what you found why people keep secrets? Are there any kind of cultural influences when they keep the good secrets and the positive secrets?

Dr Michael Slepian
Yeah, it's interesting you bring this example 'cause we're studying it right now. We have this intuition that pregnancy and secrets around pregnancy in earlier periods, that it looks more like a burdensome secret, and when it’s later and, you know, people feel comfortable discussing it more like positive secrets.

Beth
In some cultures, secrets about pregnancy are related to the evil eye, a superstition in which someone causes injury or bad luck through a look. It could be bad luck to reveal a pregnancy too early, and Dr Slepian calls these secrets burdensome, meaning worrying, troublesome or distressing.

Neil
It seems secrets do vary from culture to culture… but what everyone wants to know is the missing ingredient in Coca-Cola, so come on, Beth, tell us the secret answer to your question!

Beth
OK. I asked about TV presenter, Joanna Lumley, who thinks she’s found out Coca-Cola’s secret spicy ingredient.

Neil
Well, I guessed that it was nutmeg…

Beth
Which was… the correct answer! Good guess, Neil! Travelling in Indonesia, Joanna noticed lots of nutmeg being grown and asked who was buying it, only to be told, Coca-Cola! OK, let's recap the vocabulary we've learned from this programme starting with the idiom spill the beans meaning to reveal a secret.

Neil
A guilty pleasure is something you really enjoy doing but which also gives you a feeling of guilt or shame.

Beth
A marriage proposal is the act of asking someone to marry you.

Neil
The phrase the whole point of something describes the most important reason or purpose for it.

Beth
The evil eye is a superstition in which someone causes injury or bad luck through a look.

Neil
And finally, the adjective burdensome means worrying, troublesome or distressing. Once again, our six minutes are up but I’ll tell you a secret – you can join us again next time for more topical vocabulary, here at 6 Minute English. Goodbye for now!

Beth
Bye!