把祕密說出去的人
最貼近字面的一族：說故事的真的是一個人。
noun · B2
A child who tells adults what other children have said or done, especially their secrets or their bad behaviour. Children use the word about each other to show they think this is unfair.
打小報告的人
核心畫面
One way to hold this word: tell plus tale. Something was supposed to stay untold, and something else tells it anyway. Sometimes the is a person, the child who runs to the adult. Sometimes it is a detail nobody meant to leave: on the sofa, a red face, a footprint in mud. And sometimes it is a part bolted on for exactly this purpose, a light on a or a ribbon on a sail. Whoever or whatever is doing it, the shape is the same: the situation ends up speaking.
telltale 可以想成 tell（說）加上 tale（故事）這兩塊拼起來的畫面：有件事本來不該被說出去，結果還是…更多收起
telltale 可以想成 tell（說）加上 tale（故事）這兩塊拼起來的畫面：有件事本來不該被說出去，結果還是被說了出去。有時候說話的是人，就是那個跑去跟大人講的小孩。有時候是沒人打算留下的小細節：沙發上的碎屑、忽然泛紅的臉、泥地上的腳印。有時候則是專門裝上去做這件事的零件，儀表板上的燈、帆上的小布條。不管是誰在說，形狀都一樣：那個狀況自己講出來了。From the word’s history
From tell plus tale, perhaps altered from the earlier taleteller, from Middle English tale tellere, literally a teller of tales.
由 tell（說）加 tale（故事）組成，來源說它可能是更早的 taleteller 變來的，也就是中古英文的 tale tellere，字面就是「說故事的人」。這條線索說明了為什麼「人」的那個意思最接近字面，其他意思都是把「說故事」這個角色交給了別的東西。
Wiktionary entry supplied in this batch's evidence packet (source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:742599061); the source itself hedges with perhaps
Three branches
不小心洩漏真相的跡象
說故事的換成了東西：沒有人開口，是那個小細節自己把事情講了出來。
adjective · B2
Used before words like signs, marks, smell or sound: a small thing you notice that clearly shows something has happened or is there, often something that someone wanted to keep hidden.
洩漏真相的
專門裝來報告狀況的東西
還是「把狀況說出來」，但這一次是刻意安排的：有人把這個報告者裝了上去。
noun · C1
A part fitted to a machine, vehicle or boat whose only job is to show you what is happening — for example a warning light on a dashboard, or a short strip of ribbon on a sail that shows which way the air is flowing.
指示器；帆上的風標布條