Let something slip

[Bassim]

I've tried to use "let something slip". Have I made any mistakes?

During dinner, Bob let it slip that he was recommended for promotion.
"Wonderful news," said his wife, Ruth. "Pity they didn't do it earlier."
"My boss is morose all the time," Bob said. "You can't expect that such a man says anything positive about you. The recommendation must have come from the executive."

 

[teechar]

[STRIKE]You[/STRIKE] I can't [STRIKE]expect[/STRIKE] imagine that such a man [STRIKE]says[/STRIKE] would say anything positive about me. [STRIKE]you.[/STRIKE] The recommendation must have come from the executive."

What do you mean by "the executive"?

 

[Bassim]

I used "executive" because I was not sure what word I should use. By "executive " I meant someone in a management position.

 

[teechar]

You can say, for example, "from senior management".

 

[Tarheel]

If somebody let something slip I assume that means he didn't mean to say it. Is that what you intend?

 

[Bassim]

Yes, Tarheel, that was what I intended to say.

 

[Tarheel]

You might want to say he had meant to keep it to himself (perhaps because he hadn't got the promotion yet).

 

[Tdol]

How about that he had been recommended?

 

[Tarheel]

Perhaps:

He hadn't meant to tell her about it, because he wasn't sure he would get it, but at dinner with his wife he let it slip that he had been recommended for a promotion.

(His boss, Ben Dover, wasn't eager to make the recommendation because the promotion would be for his (Ben's) job.)