To be perfectly honest, I’ve written about this subject several times in the past. The God’s honest truth is that I’ll probably write about it again in the future. Truthfully, I find this subject to be amongst the most irritating subjects I’ve written about.
When someone qualifies the truth by stating, “to be perfectly honest,” what they are implying is that, in the past, they have not been perfectly honest. In other words, they have lied to you.
When someone adds a qualifier such as, “God’s honest” truth, they again signal that they have not been honest with you in the past. “To be perfectly honest with you,” always warns me that the speaker may be imperfectly honest (lie) at times.
The same goes when someone starts the conversation with “truthfully.” If you are truthful all the time, there is no need for qualifiers. The first time a salesperson uses a qualifier such as those listed above, he/she automatically loses my business. Deciding what to do when you’re buying something is easy. The real problem is when you hear qualifiers coming from politicians.
I would love to do a study on how many politicians use qualifiers and how often they use them. Comparing the use of qualifiers to the percentage of lies told by a politician using “Fact Checking” should verify my hypothesis. I suspect that politicians lie on a regular basis. One thing is certain, politicians almost always claim their opponents are liars!
Have you heard the following joke?
“How do you know when a politician is lying?”
“When his/her mouth is moving, they are lying.”
Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s a joke! The next time someone promises to be perfectly honest with you or leads off with a statement starting with “truthfully,” be careful, they may well be liars. If you like them, point out that they are implying that they aren’t honest at times. If you have no connection to them, consider walking away from them quickly.
Most of us are guilty of being dishonest or less than honest (dishonest) in the past. There may be special occasions where being honest is not optimal. My recommendation is to qualify those occasions by stating that, while you pride yourself on always being honest, being honest now may be harmful to (fill in the blank) and you’d rather not say anything rather than telling a lie or a partial truth. Ultimately, if they still want the info after being warned, then tell them what you know and can legally reveal.
Honest really is the best policy. If you are always honest then you won’t have to remember which lies you’ve told and to whom you told them to.
Here’s your music for the day.
