Pathological Honesty

As the name suggests, PathologicalHonesty is the condition of being "honest to a fault". Most of us were originally taught that "honesty is the best policy" yet actual life experience leads us to the conclusion that too much of anything is seldom a good thing. Some have suggested that "innocent" or "white" lies, in fact, provide a vitally needed social lubricant. Consider the converse approach--PathologicalHonesty--in the following example:

"Honey, does this dress make me look fat?"

"Yes." <or> "Without a doubt." <or> "To the extent that anyone might be said to be fat, definitely true."

How about: "It's not the dress, hon"

Expected outcome of the above: sleeping alone for <unspecified time period> ... or at least long enough to reflect seriously on the wisdom of indulging a penchant for PathologicalHonesty indiscriminately in social situations.

If someone can be "faulted" for being honest, surely the people that interact with the "honest to a fault" person should also be faulted for faulting the honest, and even coming up with the very concept that there can be "pathological honesty". After all, he who is without fault should throw the first stone.

You aren't married, are you?

I think this overlaps with the concept of "brutal honesty". People sometimes say thing just to be mean or petty, which may happen to be true. There is no reason to do this, and the motivations are reprehensible. This is quite separable from the idea of "honesty is the best policy".

Actually this a trick question - it's posed as a binary question, but there is no correct answer - if you take it to the full conclusion:

(A) "Honey, does this dress make me look fat?"

* Yes - You sleep on couch. * No - Proceed to Step B * (B) "You would tell me, right?" * Yes - Proceed to Step C * (C) "I'm serious, you can tell me the truth, does it make me look fat? * Yes - You sleep on couch * No - Proceed to Step D * (D) "I don't want you to just tell me what I want to hear, I know this question makes men scared - seriously, does it make me look fat?" * Yes - Sleep on couch * No - "I'm just asking for your opinion, no reason to get upset!" - Sleep on couch. * No - You sleep on couch.

The only correct answer is: "If by fat you mean hot, and by dress you mean tantalizing piece of tease-fabric, then Yes."

To which the further response is : "Don't hide behind the bushes, please answer me plainly do I look fat or not?"
(A) More wiggling around -> "I see that you cannot give me an honest answer". Sleep on couch.
(B) Yes -> Sleep on couch
(C) No -> "I see that you cannot be sincere with me". -> sleep on couch.

The claim that the only way to win is not to play is weak. If you do not play maybe you do not lose, but certainly you do not win either. A better strategy: play a different game if you can.

Sometimes TheOnlyWayToWinIsNotToPlay? can lead to divorce I suppose. . .

And then there's DiplomaticHonesty?: Dear, no dress could make you look fat.

She will read the irony: "don't blame it on the dress, that's how you really are" -> sleep on couch.

When people without skills try to be diplomatic sometimes they make it worse.

Neither does saying "Werd! You look totally phat! - some things don't make the transition out of text-space.

PathologicalHonesty includes a bad GeekHabit? of saying true-but-depressing things, like quoting the statistics for how likely it is you'll die from eating whatever you're having for lunch.

If you're going to lose anyway, go down in flames = "No, dear, it's your ass that makes you look fat"

You can also try "Take it off and I'll compare", "No, you are all skin & bones anyways", "On you - yes, but I'd love to see Muffy in it", or the always good "Huh? I wasn't listening"