telling

Telling is the act of conveying information, facts, or stories from a sender to a recipient. As a gerund form of the verb tell, it encompasses speaking, writing, or any communicative act intended to share knowledge or meaning. Effective telling depends on factors such as the sender’s intent, the message content, the channel used, the context, and the receiver’s background. Clarity, accuracy, and credibility influence how well information is understood and trusted.

In literature and rhetoric, telling refers to the direct recounting of events, as opposed to showing through action, dialogue, or sensory detail. Narrative telling shapes pacing, perspective, and emphasis, and is often discussed alongside showing as a deliberate stylistic choice.

Truth-telling and ethics are central to many discussions of telling. Truth-telling denotes the obligation or expectation to disclose accurate information, which may be weighed against privacy, confidentiality, or strategic concerns. Deception, withholding information, or misrepresentation are treated as ethical issues in journalism, medicine, law, and personal relationships.

In other domains, telling also appears in specialized senses. In gaming and psychology, a tell is a cue—often unconscious—that signals a person’s mental state or intentions, such as a physical gesture that reveals information about one’s hand in poker. In journalism and analytics, a telling detail or statistic is one that reveals a larger truth about a situation, trend, or phenomenon.