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spill the tea

CTL-W-0437 · Work · 2010s

VERIFIED evidence grade — master store (canonical CSV)

Combined Graph record U-00838 · provenance: canonical master store (CSV), record CTL-W-0437. Master record source: CTL seed 2026-10-16 — UNVERIFIED, verify before public citation.

Merriam-Webster tea entry (fetched in full): 'the tea, slang: private or inside information especially of a personal nature — usually used in the phrase spill the tea,' with current examples of 'spilling the tea'/'spilled the tea on why...' i.e., sharing the gossip/inside information, matching stored gloss 'share the gossip'. Word History ties tea=gossip to the lexicon of gay Harlem (Hawkeswood, UC Press 1996).

Answer summary · this record in brief, from its own record text

Merriam-Webster tea entry (fetched in full): 'the tea, slang: private or inside information especially of a personal nature — usually used in the phrase spill the tea,' with current examples of 'spilling the tea'/'spilled the tea on why...' i.e., sharing the gossip/inside information, matching stored gloss 'share the gossip'. Word History ties tea=gossip to the lexicon of gay Harlem (Hawkeswood, UC Press 1996).

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Evidence note (master store)

Merriam-Webster tea entry (fetched in full): 'the tea, slang: private or inside information especially of a personal nature — usually used in the phrase spill the tea,' with current examples of 'spilling the tea'/'spilled the tea on why...' i.e., sharing the gossip/inside information, matching stored gloss 'share the gossip'. Word History ties tea=gossip to the lexicon of gay Harlem (Hawkeswood, UC Press 1996).

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Record CTL-W-0437 · Combined Graph record U-00838 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · 1 source.
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Researched and maintained by the CultureTechLens research program · CultureTechLens Combined Graph, Release 2026-11-04. Corrections are public: the corrections log.

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Cite as: CultureTechLens, “spill the tea (CTL-W-0437),” CultureTechLens Combined Graph, Release 2026-11-04. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-w-0437/

Chicago: CultureTechLens. “spill the tea (CTL-W-0437).” CultureTechLens Combined Graph. Chicago, IL: CultureTechLens, 2026. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-w-0437/
APA: CultureTechLens. (2026). spill the tea (CTL-W-0437) [Entity record]. CultureTechLens Combined Graph. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-w-0437/
MLA: CultureTechLens. “spill the tea (CTL-W-0437).” CultureTechLens Combined Graph, 2026, https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-w-0437/

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Children at a meal, Chicago, 1941 — CultureTechLens
Children at a meal, Chicago, 1941 — CultureTechLensPhoto: Russell Lee, FSA-OWI, Public Domain, via Library of Congress
Children playing in vacant lot in Negro section of Chicago, Illinois, Chicago, 1941 — CultureTechLens
Children playing in vacant lot in Negro section of Chicago, Illinois, Chicago, 1941 — CultureTechLensPhoto: Lee, Russell, 1903-1986, FSA-OWI, Public Domain, via Library of Congress
Hallway of a kitchenette apartment building, Chicago, 1941 — CultureTechLens
Hallway of a kitchenette apartment building, Chicago, 1941 — CultureTechLensPhoto: Russell Lee, FSA-OWI, Public Domain, via Library of Congress

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