Open secret

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Open secret

An open secret is a concept or idea (often in, but not necessarily limited to, government and military circles) that is "officially" secret or restricted in knowledge, but is actually widely known; or refers to something which is widely known to be true, but which none of the people most intimately concerned is willing to categorically acknowledge in public.

Examples of military open secrets:

An example of open secret in politics: it may be widely known that an individual government minister holds a particular opinion, but is at present unable to express that opinion publicly because it is contrary to the formally expressed view of the government of which he or she is a member.

The book Cat's Cradle

Cat's Cradle

Cat's Cradle is a 1963 science fiction novel by Kurt Vonnegut. It explores issues of science, technology, and religion, satirizing the arms race and many other targets along the way....
by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

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An example of open secret in politics: it may be widely known that an individual government minister holds a particular opinion, but is at present unable to express that opinion publicly because it is contrary to the formally expressed view of the government of which he or she is a member.

The book Cat's Cradle

Cat's Cradle

Bokononism

Bokononism is the fictional religion practiced by many of the characters in Kurt Vonnegut's novel Cat's Cradle.It is based on living by the untruths that make one happy, called foma....
, outlawed in the fictional San Lorenzo. There are severe punishments for anyone found to be a practitioner of this religion. The open secret is that while everyone in San Lorenzo denies being a Bokononist, they all are. This includes even the dictator of the island, by whose command it was outlawed.

The term has also been applied to public knowledge of a person's sexual orientation

Sexual orientation

Sexual orientation refers to "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions to men, women, or both sexes." According to the American Psychological Association, "it also refers to an individual?s sense of personal and social identity based on those attractions, behaviors expressing them, and membership in a community of...
. For example, the composer Benjamin Britten

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was homosexual, but never identified himself as such. Nevertheless, it was widely known and was thus an open secret.

In television, the primary real-world identity of The Stig

The Stig

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, a costumed and masked television test-driver used by BBC Television

BBC Television

BBC Television is a service of the BBC which began in 1932. The British Broadcasting Corporation has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927....
was an open secret until the unofficial embargo was broken by a small local newspaper in 2009.