[smeej]

People tell me what seem like mundane things in conversation all the time, though, like that they're going on a vacation or have started taking dance lessons, and it never occurs to me that this is meant to be a surprise to someone for some reason, or that there's someone that person wouldn't want to know it.

For example, once a friend told me they were going on vacation to a particular city, but didn't mention it was for another friend's anniversary surprise. When the other friend mentioned they had a trip planned to the same place around the same time, "Oh! [First friend] just told me she's going to be there too! Maybe you guys can meet up together or something! That'd be so fun!" was out of my mouth almost immediately. It never even entered into my mind that there was a reason not to say anything.

I inadvertently ruined a fun surprise just because nobody told me it was a secret. If they had, I wouldn't have said anything!