Tell-tale

A tell-tale or telltale is an indicator, signal, or sign that conveys the status of a situation, mechanism, or system.

Transportation

Automobiles

In a vehicle, a tell-tale is an indicator on or near the dashboard to inform the driver that a system or device is operating, switched on, or that a problem has occurred with the vehicle. The name itself indicates that it tells you a small story related to the vehicle. So a tell tale is a small story for the driver. For example: When you see the right or the left indicator it tells the driver a small tale that the vehicle is about to turn followed by its turning and finally it has completed the turn when the light goes off. Similarly, when there is an error, it tells you where the error is when possible.

Sailing

In a nautical or sailing context a tell-tale, also known as a tell-tail, is a piece of yarn or fabric attached to a stay, any of several wires which hold a mast in place on a sailboat. they are used in pairs, on each side of the jib; there will be one tell-tail on the port stay and one on a starboard stay.

Tell-tale (automotive)

A tell-tale (or idiot light, especially in North America) is an indicator of the status or malfunction of a system within a motor vehicle. A tell-tale consists of a light bulb or an LED which lights up a symbol or text legend.

The "idiot light" terminology arises from popular frustration with automakers' use of tell-tales for crucial functions which could previously be monitored by gauges, so a troublesome condition could be detected and corrected early. Such early detection of problems with, for example, engine temperature or oil pressure or charging system operation is not possible via a tell-tale, which usually illuminates only once a fault has already occurred – thus providing no advance warnings or details of the malfunction's extent. The Hudson automobile company was the first to use lights instead of gauges for oil pressure and the voltmeter, starting in the mid-1930s.

Regulation

Automotive tell-tales are regulated by automobile safety standards worldwide. In the United States, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 101 includes tell-tales in its specifications for vehicle controls and displays. In Canada, the analogous Canada Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 101 applies. In Europe and throughout most of the rest of the world, ECE Regulations specify various types of tell-tales.

Tell-Tale (film)

Tell-Tale is a 2009 thriller film inspired by the Edgar Allan Poe short story "The Tell-Tale Heart". It is directed by Michael Cuesta and stars Josh Lucas, Lena Headey, and Brian Cox and is produced by Tony Scott and Ridley Scott. A man's recently transplanted heart leads him on a frantic search to find the donor's killer before a similar fate befalls him.

Plot

In Providence, a husband and his wife die in a botched robbery; we see flickers of his last memories. His heart goes to Terry Bernard, a single father raising a girl with a rare degenerative disease. After the operation, Terry has flashes of memory from the last moments of the dead donor's life. Then, he recognizes one of the donor's killers and follows him into an alley. Within days, Terry becomes an unwilling avenger, with a police detective on his trail. Meanwhile, he begins a romance with his daughter's doctor, his moods complicated by memory flashes, the donor's deepening presence in both Terry's mind and body, and the unexplained bond among the donor's killers. Can this end well?