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** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDCO_p9PUVA Minor smoke damage/This car is HOT!!!] {{spoiler|The car's on ''fire''.}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Everything said by Xelloss in ''[[Slayers]]'' is technically true in the manner in which he phrased it, though not always in the manner in which the listener chooses to hear it. The closest he comes to telling an actual lie is to deliberately mispronounce the name Bibble.
** For example, he introduces himself as 'Xellos, the mysterious priest!' After that statement, the 'mysterious' part is in no way questioned. As to 'priest'... well, he does indeed serve a god.
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* ''[[Star Wars]]''
** In ''[[Return of the Jedi]]'', Obi-Wan tells Luke that the statement "Darth Vader betrayed and murdered your father" is, indeed, true "from a certain point of view." This is a [[Retcon]], but it's a [[Tropes Are Tools|pretty good]] [[Retcon]], and rather tragic in context. ("You were my brother, Anakin! I loved you!" [[I Have No Son|Note the use of the past tense.]]) It's therefore understandable that Obi Wan feels betrayed and horrified and very bitter, and that the old man would put off telling Luke his daddy is actually an evil Sith Lord as long as possible (for Luke's sake, if for no other reason). In the ''original'' draft writen by Leigh Brackett, Anakin and Darth Vader were different persons, and indeed Vader killed Anakin after turning to the dark side. Also, Anakin was supposed to be a force ghost that would help Luke (that role was later filled by Obi-Wan). However, Brackett died, and Lucas and Brackett's substitute Lawrence Kasdan rewrote the script, adding the famous twist, so it's obvious that they had to fix "Darth Vader betrayed and killed your father" somehow. In a clear case of [[Fridge Brilliance]] upon rewatching [[A New Hope]], before Alec Guinness delivers the original line he fractionally hesitates with a considering look. You can practically see him considering what would be the best thing to tell Luke. That hesitation is amazingly lucky for the [[Retcon]].
** While this looks weaselly, it does fit later hints that the Jedi see the Sith as something like the walking dead, former people who've been turned into monsters by the Dark Side. Mace Windu says "which was ''destroyed'', the master or the apprentice?"—not, say, ''slain''. Obi
*** Palpatine/Sidious does something similar, but to more sinister intent, when he tells the newly-suited Vader that in his anger he killed Padme. It wasn't Anakin/Vader's force-choke that really killed her, but it ''was'' her shock at Anakin's betrayal that caused her to lose the will to live. So, from a certain point of view, Palpatine was telling the truth.
*** According to the novelization, and as far as Palpatine knows, the damage to her windpipe ''is'' what killed her. The explanation for the whole "lost the will to live" thing is that the robot doctors were built by the alien race that run the base she dies on and just made something up to cover for not actually knowing what they were doing when dealing with a human.
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* In [[Agatha Christie]]'s ''[[Murder on the Orient Express]]'', everything {{spoiler|Princess Natalia Dragomiroff}} says to Hercule Poirot. S/he had to lie to throw him off the trail, but Honor dictated s/he couldn't do it outright. So s/he "merely" gave the nearest equivalent answer, like Mr. Whitehead became Mr. Snowpeak.
* ''[[Saw]]''
** In the
** Without the murder charge, his actions usually qualify as assault, kidnapping, and torture, often with lasting damage even for the survivors - possibly a [[Fate Worse Than Death]] in some cases. Several of Jigsaw's disciples actually do commit straight-up murder in their games. But by the
** In the
* Used in several of the ''[[Star Trek]]'' films, mostly by Spock. The later instances are call-backs to the first, from ''[[Star Trek II: The
{{quote|'''Saavik:''' You lied.
'''Spock:''' I exaggerated. }}
** [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] repeatedly in ''[[Star Trek VI: The
{{quote|'''Spock:''' Mr. Scott, I understand you are having difficulties with the warp drive? How much time do you require for repair?
'''Scotty:''' There's nothing wrong with the bloody th--
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** This one, though, eventually comes back to bite Spock in the hinder:
{{quote|'''Kirk:''' I want the names of the conspirators.
'''{{spoiler|Valeris}}:''' I do not... remember.
'''Spock:''' A lie?
''' {{spoiler|Valeris}}:''' ...A ''choice''. }}
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== [[Literature]] ==
* ''[[Discworld]]'':
** In ''[[
** In ''[[
** ''[[
** Carrot does this surprisingly frequently when negotiating with hostile characters. However, he has never (as far as anyone can prove) told a direct lie. In fact, he has a tendency to use the truth as a weapon. Both he and his it's-complicated Angua have told someone impeding their progress that unless the person stands down, they'll be forced to carry out the orders they were given regarding resistance, and that they'll regret it terribly if they do, but they won't have any choice. In the circumstances an implied threat is very clear - [[Shame If Something Happened]]. However, the orders on both occasions were "leave the offending party alone, and see if you can find a workaround in this morass." The people they're sort-of threatening never notice.
{{quote|"Sergeant Colon was lost in admiration. He'd seen people bluff on a bad hand, but he'd never seen anyone bluff with no cards."}}
* George Martin's ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'': "{{spoiler|The Hound}} is dead. -- {{spoiler|Sandor Clegane}} is at peace."
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'''Garak:''' "''Especially'' the lies." }}
*** As it turns out in the relaunch novel ''A Stitch in Time'', they actually were almost all true. Kinda.
** The original trope name could just has easily been
** In the [[Star Trek: The Original Series|original series]] episode "The ''Enterprise'' Incident", Spock explains to the Romulan Commander that the Vulcan reputation for being truthful is overblown. They'll lie just like anyone else if they have a (logical) reason to.
*** In one early episode of ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'', Tuvok tells Chakotay that he is always honest, to which Chakotay points out that he wasn't being honest when he pretended to be a Maquis in order to infiltrate Chakotay's ship. Tuvok then counters that he was being honest to his principles and within the defined parameters of his mission. Chakotay recognizes this as a load of crap.
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** A straight in-story example in the old series. The Black Guardian tells Turlough that the Doctor is evil and must be stopped. When called out on it he claims he was not actually lying because "the Doctor's good is my evil".
** There has been a rumor going about that [[John Simm]] will return as [[The Master (trope)|The Master]]. While Simm has shown interest in playing the role again, and [[Steven Moffat]] has stated that ''maybe'' (emphasis on '''maybe''') The Master might return someday, Simm posted a recent tweet that he doesn't plan on playing Master anytime soon. It's unknown whether this means he turned the role down or he hasn't been offered it yet, though.
* On ''[[Penn
** The claims are true. This stuff has killed thousands of people in multiple high-profile incidents, and the petitions to ban dihydrogen monoxide are also nothing new. They've been circulating online since at least [[The Nineties]]. The TV show didn't originate this meme.
* Adam and Jimmie of ''[[The Man Show]]'' got dozens of women to sign a petition to end Women's Suffrage (the right to vote) by phrasing it to sound like they meant "suffering". Things like, "Women have been suffraging in this country for decades, and nobody's done anything to stop it!"
* [[Aquila]] has a scene where an archaeologist explains, referencing the [[ancient Africa]]n proverb about truth being an elephant surrounded by three blind men, that he simply gave the boys a point of view not involving copious amounts of money.
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== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==
* [http://www.dilbert.com/strips/comic/2007-01-09/ This] ''[[Dilbert]]'' strip.
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
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** In fairness, nearly everything about the Fair Folk is a lie on some level, up to and including their physical appearance.
** In another rather similar case -- "Infernals don't have Charms." What was really meant was, "Their ''patrons'', the Yozi, have Charms, which the Infernals use by extension to exert their malefic will upon Creation." (Not true anymore, either. Now Infernals can make their own personal Charms.)
* This is one of the ways that Games Workshop [[Hand Wave|explain]] differences in the millennia-old backstories that occur in ''[[Warhammer
* ''[[In Nomine]]:'' Balseraphs take Dissonance (which is bad for any Celestial) when they're caught lying. One of the few ways to remove this Dissonance is for the Balseraph to get the person who noticed the variance from truth to believe it's true ... from a certain point of view.
==
* ''[[Othello]]'': Iago never actually tells a flat-out lie. Instead, he simply plays up everyone else's insecurities, creatively spotlights and phrases certain information, and lets them draw their own conclusions.
* ''[[Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (theatre)|Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street]]'': {{spoiler|Mrs. Lovett: "No, I never lied. Said she took a poison, she did. Never said that she died."}}
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{{quote|'''Anakin''': Oh, there's all sorts of loopholes in the Jedi code. [[Call Forward|Obi-Wan says you can lie to the son of a former padawan about the fate of his father]], for example. Like ''that'll'' ever come up. }}
** [http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/2341.html And this one] makes fun of the original quote. Sadly, it doesn't link to this page.
** Likewise with [https://www.irregularwebcomic.net/4471.html this one].
* ''[[Darths and Droids]]'' - "That's Jedi for "I lied my butt off," isn't it?"
** Later used in reference to the original... [http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0448.html because the DM's opening exposition was what the people believed rather than the truth.]
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== [[Western Animation]] ==
* ''[[Robot Chicken]]'' turned it into a [https://web.archive.org/web/20120726101511/http://video.adultswim.com/robot-chicken/a-certain-point-of-view.html full blown musical] for their Star Wars special.
* As the above Amulet of Eternal Life, Xanatos, from ''[[Gargoyles]]'', discovered a cauldron which allowed a person to live "as long as the mountain stone". [[Genre Savvy|He was smart enough to test it first]]. Yup, Stone.
* In the episode "The Ninja" of ''[[Batman: The Animated Series]]'', [[Bruce Wayne Held Hostage|Bruce explains to fellow prisoner Summer]] that they escaped because Batman arrived and took down the bad guy. Hey, his voice changed so it was mostly true...
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** The same story is told in most of Europe in regards to soldiers signing up in [[WWI]] and [[WWII]].
* [[The Other Wiki]] has an [[wikipedia:Doctrine of mental reservation|article]] on this sort of deception, mostly on the history of those who, for religious reasons, employed it as the result of [[Will Not Tell a Lie|being technically unwilling to lie]].
* In a US election speech,
** Of course, while making the statement he honestly thought that the government didn't actually need taxes and was just leeching from honest businesses. Then he got in charge and the truth dawned on him.
* An old standby for people making a journey - "We're not lost; I know exactly where we are... I just don't know where we are in relation to where we want to be". Or "We're not lost; I know exactly where we are... right here."
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* People write books about such tricks and how to recognize them. ''How to Lie with Statistics'' by Darrell Huff. Okay, that was [[Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics|statistics]]. Let's step it up: ''How to Lie with Maps'' by Mark Monmonier.
* The U.S. Supreme Court had to settle an argument related to this in [[wikipedia:Bronston v. United States|Bronson v. United States]]; testimony that is "literally truthful but technically misleading" is not perjury. In their defense, the Court was somewhat dubious of sustaining a perjury prosecution on the basis of a possible misunderstanding. To provide further context, Bronston's testimony was only technically incomplete, but on its face only answered a specific part of the question, and the lawyer in question failed to ask an obvious follow-up question. "Q. Do you have any bank accounts in Swiss banks, Mr. Bronston?" "A. No, sir." "Q. Have you ever?" "A. The company had an account there for about six months, in Zurich." (Bronston had had a personal Swiss account as well previously, but note that the subject at hand was the ''company's'' bankruptcy.)
* Noam Chomsky being a professional propagandist, unsurprisingly he pulled a lot of these in his career, and was caught on many of his tricks -- especially in now-infamous support of the Khmer Rouge (a lot of his articles and others criticizing them are linked [https://web.archive.org/web/20180611102920/http://www.paulbogdanor.com/chomskyhoax.html here]):
{{quote|I checked every citation in the entire article. Not one of them was wholly truthful. At best they were slippery equivocations, with the obvious meaning being a lie, and an alternate, hidden meaning, true but irrelevant, to provide an escape hatch should the lie be discovered.|'''James A. Donald''', ''Chomsky Lies''}}
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[[Category:Truth and Lies]]
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