What's the difference between 'can't say' and 'can't tell'?

I really have no idea.' 'I can't tell/say. I am sworn to secrecy.' I am also aware that 'can't say' ... EnglishLanguage&UsageStackExchangeisaquestionandanswersiteforlinguists,etymologists,andseriousEnglishlanguageenthusiasts.Itonlytakesaminutetosignup. Signuptojointhiscommunity Anybodycanaskaquestion Anybodycananswer Thebestanswersarevotedupandrisetothetop Home Public Questions Tags Users Unanswered Teams StackOverflowforTeams –Startcollaboratingandsharingorganizationalknowledge. CreateafreeTeam WhyTeams? Teams CreatefreeTeam Teams Q&Aforwork Connectandshareknowledgewithinasinglelocationthatisstructuredandeasytosearch. LearnmoreaboutTeams What'sthedifferencebetween'can'tsay'and'can'ttell'? AskQuestion Asked 5years,4monthsago Modified 5years,4monthsago Viewed 19ktimes 3 'Can'tsay'vs.'can'ttell' Maybothexpressionsmeaneither'don'tknow'or'benotallowedtosharetheinformation'? Oronly'can'ttell'means'don'tknow'while'can'tsay'means'beunwillingtoreveal'? Examples: 'Ican'ttell/sayifhe'sbeenhurt.Ireallyhavenoidea.' 'Ican'ttell/say.Iamsworntosecrecy.' Iamalsoawarethat'can'tsay'maymean'realize/'mustadmit'likeinthesentence'Ican'tsayIhavenotbeenwarned.'However,thisisnotmyquestionhere. expressions Share Improvethisquestion Follow askedApr16,2017at5:32 PeterPeter 1,3681717goldbadges3636silverbadges5353bronzebadges 3 1 Iwouldsaythatbothexpressionscanhaveeithersense.However,inthefirstsense"Can'tsay"ismoreofadismissive,shrug-of-the-shoulders"Don'tknow"while"Ican'ttell"impliesthatIhavetriedtofindoutbutwasunabletoformanopinion. – KateBunting Apr16,2017at7:50 1 @KateBunting-Right,whileIcouldsay,“Ican’ttellfromfromhereifshe’sgotherbook,”“can’tsayfromhere”doen’tquitework. – Jim Apr16,2017at15:54 2 Let'snotforgetthevariableofphysicallocation,whichisimpliedinthecommentleftby@Jim."Ican'ttellifshe'sgotherbook"couldmeanthatI'mtoofarawaytoseeisshehasherbook,orthatshejustslippedaroundthecornerandoutofmylineofvision.Eyesightalsofactorsintonotbeingabletotell,asin"Ican'ttellifthewordinthatsignacouplehundredfeetawayis'but'or'nut'." – rhetorician Apr16,2017at23:55 Addacomment  |  1Answer 1 Sortedby: Resettodefault Highestscore(default) Datemodified(newestfirst) Datecreated(oldestfirst) 2 Firstofall,youareaskingtwoquestionsinone.Thefirstbeingthedifferencebetweencan'tsay/can'ttellinthefirstexample,thesecondbeingthedifferencebetweenbeingunableduetolackofknowledgevsprohibition(thesecondexample). Inthefirstcase(lackofknowledge),thedifferenceis: Hemayormaynotbeinjured,butIcan'ttell. Youhavenotbeenabletogleananyinformationyourself.Youjustdon'tknow. Ithinkhemightbeinjured,butIcan'tsayforsure. Youmayhavesomeidea,butyoucannotsaywithconfidence. Inthesecondcase(prohibition): Ican'tsay,Ipromised. Thenormalusage,meanswhatyouexpect-Iamprohibitedfromsaying/revealingthatinformation. Ican'ttell,Ipromised. Iwouldsaythisisincorrectinthecaseofprohibition-Ihaveneverhearditusedinthisway.Thiswouldbeprobablymisinterpretedtomeansomeothervaliduseof"tell",suchas: Ican'ttellher,Ipromised. Inthiscase,tellmeansto"saytosomeoneelse". Ican'ttellonher,Ipromised. Thishasacompletelydifferentmeaningbasedonacompleteddifferentdefinitionoftell-to"tellon"-torevealthewrongdoingofsomeoneelsetoanauthority.I.e.afullsentencemightbe: WhostoleyourApple? ItwasElise. Youshouldreporthertotheteacher! Ican'ttellonher,Ipromised. Share Improvethisanswer Follow editedApr23,2017at23:21 answeredApr23,2017at23:05 aaa90210aaa90210 2,2751414silverbadges2020bronzebadges Addacomment  |  YourAnswer ThanksforcontributingananswertoEnglishLanguage&UsageStackExchange!Pleasebesuretoanswerthequestion.Providedetailsandshareyourresearch!Butavoid…Askingforhelp,clarification,orrespondingtootheranswers.Makingstatementsbasedonopinion;backthemupwithreferencesorpersonalexperience.Tolearnmore,seeourtipsonwritinggreatanswers. Draftsaved Draftdiscarded Signuporlogin SignupusingGoogle SignupusingFacebook SignupusingEmailandPassword Submit Postasaguest Name Email Required,butnevershown PostYourAnswer Discard Byclicking“PostYourAnswer”,youagreetoourtermsofservice,privacypolicyandcookiepolicy Nottheansweryou'relookingfor?Browseotherquestionstaggedexpressionsoraskyourownquestion. 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