Meaning:
Conveying an untrue version of events by leaving out the important facts. A
euphemism for lying, in short.
Background:
Recorded from the 18th century, although rarely used. It was brought into the
contemporary language by the UK Cabinet Secretary, Sir Robert Armstrong, who
used the phrase during the Australian 'Spycatcher' trial in 1986.
Lawyer: What is the difference between a misleading impression and a lie?
Armstrong: A lie is a straight untruth.
Lawyer: What is a misleading impression - a sort of bent untruth?
Armstrong: As one person said, it is perhaps being "economical with the truth".
What Armstrong left out (perhaps he knew but was being economical) was that the
'one person' was Edmund Burke. In 1796 Burke wrote:
"Falsehood and delusion are allowed in no case whatsoever: But, as in the
exercise of all the virtues, there is an economy of truth."
In 1992, Alan Clark was cross-examined during the Matrix Churchill case and
embroidered the phrase a little:
Clark: Well it's our old friend "being economical", isn't it?
Lawyer: With the truth?
Clark: With the actuality.
- www.phrases.org.uk
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It's not just politicians and criminals who go routinely economical with the
truth. They make the front page but story-telling is an important social skill
for everyone. Husbands, e.g., by definition are prone to conserve resources,
truth included.
It's not what you say, but how you say it, we often hear. In order to make some
truth palatable, one has to bend it. A blatant lie is almost always a bad bet
but one can fib or be more politic by leaving out harmless details. This is the
water in which we all swim.
