save your skeletons

[keannu]

I found "skeleton in the closet" is some secret, and does this expression have any origin? Why does skeleton mean secrets?

ex)Often people think when they meet someone they like, they should share a secret, show an intimacy, or make a confession to show they are human too.....But frequently your new acquaintance has no way of knowing if your confession was a generous act. His instinctive reaction is "if he shares that with me so quickly, what else is he hiding? A criminal record?" So when first meeting someone, lock your closet door and save your skeletons for later.In a certain amount of time, you and your new good friend can invite the skeletons out and have a good laugh. But now's not the time you should reveal your whole self.

[Barb_D]

If you murdered someone and shoved the body in a closet, after several years you'd have a skeleton in the closet.

[keannu]

If you murdered someone and shoved the body in a closet, after several years you'd have a skeleton in the closet.

Is it the origin of the expression or just an example you can think of?

[JMurray]

I found "skeleton in the closet" is some secret, and does this expression have any origin? Why does skeleton mean secrets?

The scenario that Barb describes is precisely what the idiom refers to. The point is not that "skeleton means secrets" but that if a skeleton were found in your closet it might point to some bad thing you did in the past.
To say that someone has a skeleton in the closet doesn't necessarily imply criminality, it can refer to something that was merely embarrassing, scandalous, regrettable or just best forgotten for some reason.

not a teacher