et semel emissum volat irrevocabile verbum

[randomness]

(and a word once uttered flies abroad never to be recalled" [Horace)]

or, to repurpose something parallel I've heard attributed to browngirl:

"That which is said cannot be unsaid."

But it's better to know than not, eh?

Thanks to dpolicar for the Latin expression.

Comments

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

*blushes* Oh, I merely fortuitously adopted these bits of wisdom. I got "What has been seen cannot be unseen" from bikergeek and riffed off of it, but I'm sure others have also said, "What has been said cannot be unsaid" and its variants. It's built into the concept of lashon hara after all.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

I know, but I think of you when I hear it or say it. :)

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

Actually the "Winged words" thing dates to Homer, from the Odyssey.

In legal contexts, the metaphor "you cannot unring a bell" is often used, as I understand it. (I.e. a jury cannot unhear information they've heard. If a judge orders, "The jury will disregard that comment/question/answer," that doesn't really work.