Catch this and let me know what you think. In the course of a recent conversation with a business owner I made the statement – “to be honest,” and before I could get anymore out of my mouth – he stopped me. He went on to suggest that by saying – to be honest- implied that I had the propensity to be dishonest.
I sat there stunned and thinking to myself – right (read: sarcastic self-talk). Great admonishment I thought. And despite my best effort to contain my verbal prowess, I said, “to be perfectly honest (which likely further implied my propensity to let the zingers fly), I disagree.” Yikes. Likely not the best line in that moment. At least not for making a new friend in the business world. In the same respect – to be interrupted and advised on a figure of speech that is as common place as “I” seemed completely misplaced.
What do you think? Heavy implications in the way of – window into the character of a person? Or, a little far-reaching?
Your to be honest (aka: I don’t really know but here is what I think) multifamily maniac,
M
0 Responses
This dude was reaching. Honestly, I would have been more than taken aback by how rude the guy was. I suspect he takes a very literal approach to many things in his life. I wonder how many other expressions get under his skin. Oh wait, that’s not technically possible unless it’s a parasite or something. He’s clearly barking up the wrong tree on this one.
I don’t see it as any different than saying “to be candid”. You’re letting people know that what you’re about to say is going to be direct and may even catch them off guard. It’s actually polite, but is often over used and probably why this guy has an opinion about the phrase.
I’m with Mark and Michael. I think it’s a simple, quick way to let a person know you’re going to be pretty direct with them. I think that’s far preferable to just blundering into a situation, being direct without warning, and expecting people to deal.
Jake
Thank you for taking the time to remark – I don’t think I have seen your name show up in the comments before. Hope all is well.
M
I agree with Mark, Michael and Jake. Yikes…what a jerk.
This is a great discussion Mike. Funny and Philosophical. The answer probably goes deeper into the psyche of human behavior than my feeble monkey brain can tolerate. However, he was probably recently exposed to this revolutionary statement and now regurgitates it to represent an exaggerated moral high ground.
Seems like something I would do. Good stuff. Agree with all posts. 100%.
Joe
Thanks for taking the time. I have not seen your name here before. Hope all is well and good in your part of the world.
M
Hi Mike, I just opened an internal email pointing towards this blog. Great stuff. All is well. Sounds like you’re in a good place yourself. See you soon. Joe
To be perfectly honest the dude was rude. Loving your blog Mike!!!
Jenny – thanks. Hope your week rocked.
To be honest (OK I couldn’t resist the temptation to open with the phrase) I had been using this as an attention grabbing expression for years until I heard my boss question a coworkers’ authenticity based on his overuse of the idiom. http://dictionary.reference.com defines “idiom” as “an expression whose meaning is not predictable from the usual meanings of its constituent elements, as kick the bucket or hang one’s head. . . “ Therefore, using “to be honest” as a modifier does not imply that the speaker’s other utterances are less than honest. It is merely a figure of speech.
Rude, I agree with Juleen, often overused and I agree with everything
Joe Smith noted (and funny), I bet that guy did JUST come across that
gem and couldn’t wait to throw that at you, honestly that was a perfect
reply. Impressed that you noticed Joe Smith was “NEW” to blog. I just
reviewed this blog this morning, love it, subscribed….