bush telegraph
Noun

bush telegraph (plural bush telegraphs)

  1. (idiomatic) A system used by undeveloped societies in remote regions for communication over long distances, such as drum sounds, word-of-mouth relay, or smoke signals.
    • 2007, "[https://web.archive.org/web/20080517145820/http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/20458050/ From Sudan to supermodel stardom]," msnbc.com, 28 Aug. (retrieved 19 Sep. 2008):
      When I was born, family and friends came from all over, thanks to the bush telegraph. There were very few telephones where I grew up, so my father mentioned my birth to someone at the market. And that woman told a man who was delivering rice to a place up the road. He told someone there, who was taking a herd of cattle south, toward the villages. And pretty soon the news of my birth had spread far and wide.
  2. (idiomatic) A gossip network.
Synonyms


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