也稱爲 grape-vine，起源於1736年，由 grape 和 vine 組成。意思是“謠言； 傳播信息的祕密或非傳統方法”（1863年），源於美國內戰期間將 grapevine telegraph 用作“祕密信息和謠言的來源”，指南方人民在北方佔領下的情況，也指黑人社區和逃亡奴隸。
The false reports touching rebel movements, which incessantly circulated in Nashville, brings us to the consideration of the "grapevine telegraph"—a peculiar institution of rebel generation, devised for the duplex purpose of "firing the Southern heart," and to annoy the "Yankees." It is worthy of attention, as one of the signs of the times, expressing the spirit of lying which war engenders. But it is no more than just to say that there is often so little difference between the "grapevine" and the associated press telegraph, that they might as well be identical. ["Rosecrans' Campaign with the Fourteenth Corps," Cincinnati, 1863]
有關叛軍行動的虛假報道在納什維爾不斷流傳，這讓我們考慮到“葡萄藤電報”——叛亂時期的一種特殊制度，旨在“點燃南方人的心”，並煩擾“北方佬”。它值得關注，因爲它是戰爭產生的謊言精神的一個標誌。但公正地說，有時“葡萄藤”和相關新聞社電報之間的區別很小，它們幾乎可以被視爲相同的。[“羅斯克蘭斯與第十四軍團的戰役”，辛辛那提，1863年]
