Dear Geist,

You are the most tolerant editors I’ve ever seen! You’re willing to go back to Neanderthal times, or race into the future, just to weigh in on words and expressions with a cutting edge so fresh (or long gone) that you can barely find it online—all in the service of ushering in a new word or set of words, and to find out where a word, term or meaning came from.

But now there’s a new expression exploding everywhere, that I’m guessing you don’t want to invite to the literary party. That little squib is “to be honest.” Amirite?

—Renee of Victoria BC

Dear Renee,

Right on all counts!

Some of us are okay with this new expression, but others cannot bring themselves to use—or even to like—“to be honest,” regardless of whether or not they are “honest.”

Our reasons are old-fashioned. When someone says “to be honest, I . . .” the listener must accept this statement, or conclude that the speaker is announcing this truth, as opposed to all other, earlier declarations on the subject. What are we to make of the material already spoken or read to this point? Was the speaker hiding something? Was some of that earlier text open and sincere? If so, which parts? The practice is so wide, with its hint of heretofore undisclosed personal conclusions, that we have begun to say “to be honest” even when it is not called for: “To be honest, I prefer mitts to gloves,” for instance, or “My garden needs some rain, to be honest.” Even if none of the calamities takes place, one fears to leave out the meaningless “to be honest.” Thousands of people are taking it up in public forums. With enough people saying it and believing it, are the rest of us careful not to hold back, or simply judged as not being honest?

—The Editors