Metaphorically True: Difference between revisions

Less commonly, it is used in the wake of a [[Retcon]], in an effort to smooth over the inconsistencies introduced by that [[Retcon]]. In the [[Trope Namer|original example]] shown at the top of the page, the line from the third movie practically [[Hand Wave]]s the fact that the line from the first movie was originally intended to be describing two people, [[Lying Creator|despite any of]] Lucas' [[Word of God|belated claims to the contrary]].

 

 

Contrast [[Prophecy Twist]], in which the alternative interpretation is not anticipated by the characters (and hopefully the audience), but makes sense when revealed. Also contrast [[Motivational Lie]], where a lie or partial truth inflames the hero to succeed rather than fail.

== [[Advertising]] ==

* There was a series of adverts for Carfax that showed cars in dire shape, and the sound of a description being typed that minimalized the problem, getting erased, then a description being typed that made the car sound like it was great! It was an advert for car histories. The ads included...

 

* ''[[Saint Seiya]]'', the reason why Shaka, the Golden Saint of Virgo, followed [[Big Bad]] Saga.

* Schneizel of ''[[Code Geass]]'' uses this to such great effect, it's scary.

* In the ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' manga, Honda/Tristan enlists the help of Yugi and Jonouchi/Joey to confess his feelings to a classmate. Yugi helps to write a love letter and Jonouchi slips it into her desk. A [[Sadist Teacher]] discovers the love letter and gleefully humiliates the girl by reading the love letter out loud. When she tells the sender she [[Blatant Lies|will let them off easy]] if he shows himself, both Yugi and Jonouchi stand up, admitting to writing the letter and putting it in the desk respectively. Honda also stands up and says that his feelings were written in that letter. The teacher points out that only one of them could have done it and Jonouchi replies that [[Exact Words|none of them are lying.]]

 

== Fanfiction ==

{{quote|'''{{spoiler|Nonoko}}:''' And it's going to [[Jumped At the Call|turn me into a magical girl]]?

'''{{spoiler|Achakura}}:''' For values of 'turning you into a magical girl' equal to 'you having a costume that protects you and operates on principles most people won't understand, and wielding equipment that few on Earth have ever seen, let alone held,' yes, this will turn you into a magical girl! }}

 

== Film - Animated ==

* Disney's ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'' used this in the direct-to-video conclusion of the series, ''Aladdin and the King of Thieves.'' An oracle tells Aladdin that his father, Cassim, is trapped within the world of the Forty Thieves. Well, he is. It's just that Cassim is not only there voluntarily, but what he's trapped by is his own greed.

* In ''[[Tangled]]'', Flynn Rider's opening narration includes the phrase "This is the story of how I died." He then hurriedly adds that the audience shouldn't worry because it's actually a very fun story and it isn't really even about him, thus leading you to understand that he's just being metaphorical. {{spoiler|Except he's not. He ''does'' die, in point of fact. He just doesn't stay dead.}}

 

== [[Film]] - Live Action ==

** ''[[Discworld/Monstrous Regiment|Monstrous Regiment]]'': "Upon my oath, I am not a dishonest/violent man.'' {{spoiler|Kind of hard to be a violent or dishonest man when you're actually a woman.}}

** 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

* In Robert Jordan's ''[[Wheel of Time]]'' the Aes Sedai tried to get people to trust them by swearing an unbreakable oath to "Speak no word that is not true". If you think about it, this oath is meaningless. Individual words have no inherent truth value; it's phrases that can be untrue. [[Fridge Logic]] aside, in the books it does prevent them from directly lying. But the Aes Sedai think they have [[Omniscient Morality License]] (even though they are actually fairly complacent and ignorant), so they see all their oaths as unfortunate restrictions rather than moral standards to adhere to, so this trope and [[Literal Genie|other]] [[False Reassurance|deceptions]] abound. People realize this and anyone likely to deal with the Aes Sedai is warned to pay close attention because "The truth they speak may not be the truth you think you hear."

** And they STILL manage to complain about people (mostly the male main characters) not trusting them! If you think about it, it's actually bordering on [[Fridge Brilliance]]. While it's true that individuals words cannot be untrue, it has been demonstrated that what the Aes Sedai believe is the crucial factor (as an Aes Sedai can say something that is not true if they believe it to be true). If the Aes Sedai believe that is it possible to speak an untrue word (and based on their actions it's clear that most of them don't possess even a basic understanding of logic), then they can't.

'''Mal-2''': ''Even false things are true.''

'''Interviewer''': ''How can that be?''

* In David Weber's [[The War Gods|WarGod series]], [[Rebellious Princess|Lady Leeana]] asks her mother for permission to go riding. Mother wants to make sure that Leeana is planning on taking her guards along, and Leeana assures her mother that she knows that she won't be able to go riding unless her bodyguard goes riding too. {{spoiler|She's planning to run away from home, and she knows that unless she gets rid of her bodyguard by sending him out riding on a long errand, he'll try to stop her.}}

* In the [[Lensmen]] stories, it is a vital plot point that humanity (and the other allied races of civilisation) be [[Locked Out of the Loop]], because of the [[Heroic BSOD|consequences of realizing the truth]]. Even so, Mentor of Arisia goes to extraordinary lengths to keep Kim Kinnison from learning the truth without openly lying to him, right up to and including {{spoiler|altering Kinnison's perception of what species Fossten is}}.

* This comes up several times in ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', mostly to do with how the Men of Rohan and Gondor have muddled ideas about Lothlórien and Fangorn from the fact that their legend describe them as 'perilous' and 'dangerous'. As Gandalf explains, both those things are true, but that doesn't make them ''malevolent''.

 

{{quote|126. A lie isn't a lie, it's just the truth seen from a different point of view.}}

{{quote|'''Garak:''' "My dear doctor, they were ''all'' true."

'''Bashir:''' "Even the lies?"

'''Garak:''' "''Especially'' the lies." }}

* The [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens|Minbari]] in ''[[Babylon 5]]'' claim that they never lie, and a mere accusation of doing so warrants "a lethal response". While the humans initially take this at face value, Mollari, having been told otherwise by Lennier, explains that the Minbari are allowed to tell white lies to save someone from embarrassment or [[Holier Than Thou|dishonor]]. Even other Minbari are irritated at the Grey Council following this trope. Kalain says at one point that the Grey Council "never tells you the whole truth."

** A good example of Minbari half truths comes with Delenn early in Season 3. She is shown footage of a Shadow vessel and is asked if she had ever seen a ship like it before. Delenn says no. When she is later questioned about this by Sheridan she replies that whilst she was well aware of what the ship was, that was the first time she had actually seen one.

{{quote|'''Tour Guide:''' You misrepresented yourself.

'''Locke:''' I never lied.

** Another ''Lost'' example is the cover story told by the survivors who {{spoiler|escape the island}}. They claim that {{spoiler|Boone died of internal injuries from the plane crash, Charlie drowned, and Libby did not survive long either}}, all of which are technically true, but leave out massively important context details: {{spoiler|Boone died from being inside a smaller plane when it fell from some trees while he was trying to use its radio, Charlie drowned saving Desmond by sealing the door preventing the Looking Glass station being flooded and Libby did not survive for long... as a result of injuries from an accidental gunshot from Michael (who had just killed Ana Lucia in cold blood).}}

** Benjamin Linus is distrusted by every character on the show for his pathological penchant for this trope. "{{spoiler|John Locke}} is dead" is somewhat different than "{{spoiler|John Locke}} is dead ''because I killed him''."

* On ''[[Misfits]]'', a show about a bunch of "problem teens" on community service,<ref>who develop superpowers</ref> the inevitable conversation soon arises - "what did you do to end up here?" While most of them admit to plausible-sounding crimes (drunk-driving, arson, drug possession etc) Nathan constantly insists - to the point where it becomes a [[Running Gag]] - that all he did was steal some "pick'n'mix". As we later find out, the incident actually did ''start'' with him stealing some sweets. He neglected to mention, however, that (in a [[Crowning Moment of Funny]]) he subsequently ran riot in the bowling alley, trying to hurl himself down the back of one of the bowling lanes and causing a fair bit of criminal damage. When he was finally restrained he refused to pay for the damages (or co-operate in the slightest), persistently mocked the security guard and eventually attacked the guy with a stapler.

** However, it's entirely possible that Nathan really doesn't think he did anything wrong beyond eating the pick'n'mix.

{{quote|'''Tarrant:''' If he’s not on the ship, I don’t know where he is.

'''Caliph:''' How tall is he?

'''Caliph:''' What is the color of his hair?

'''Tarrant:''' He hasn’t got any. A bald dwarf shouldn’t be too hard to find. }}

* Deconstructed in [[The Wedding Bride]], a fake movie from [[How I Met Your Mother]] about {{spoiler|Stella's failed relationship with Ted from her ex-boyfriend's perspective, making ''him'' the good guy getting [[The Woobie]] Stella out of a loveless marriage, when in reality, it was nothing like that.}} We see the real reaction of {{spoiler|said guy who was left at the altar, Ted.}}

* In ''[[Farscape]]'', Crichton hits on this trope as a way of fooling the Scarran heat probe, which forces people to tell the truth. For example, while disguised as a Peacekeeper defector, he tries to get access to his captive Sebacean girlfriend by propositioning a Sebacean nurse, and he gets caught by a Scarran:

'''Scarran''': What would you have done had you gotten her?

'''Crichton''': Taken her back to my ship. [[Pardon My Klingon|Frelled]] her. Made babies. }}

{{quote|'''Fox Reporter (Archive footage):''' How much did you have when you took the reins?

'''Michael Steele (Archive footage):''' About $20 or so million.

 

== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

** 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.)

* ''[[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.

 

== Theater ==

* ''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.

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

** At one point, Game Master Konishi tells Neku and Beat that she's going to hide in the same place for seven days, while they try to find her. However, she's able to move all over the city, because the "one place" she chose was {{spoiler|Beat's shadow.}}

* In ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro ni]]'', the [[Language of Truth|Red Truth]] can be twisted in this manner.

* ''[[Castlevania]] Order of Ecclesia'' has Death's Ring, whose description is "One hit kills instantly." It is indeed true. Take one hit and ''you'' will instantly die.

* In ''[[Skies of Arcadia]]'', Belleza befriends the protagonists, who take her with them to Temple of Pyrynn to find the Red Moon Crystal. She gains their trust by telling them a sad story about herself: that her father was a sailor who was killed in the Valua-Nasr war, and she was left orphaned. This much is true. {{spoiler|What she did not mention at that point is that her father was a Valuan sailor, not Nasrean, and she is in fact an admiral of the Valuan Armada. Her hatred of war was also not a lie; she believes that Valuan hegemony will bring stability and end war.}}

 

** There's a later subversion with the Oracle. Belkar's asked if he would get to cause the death of one of the following: Roy, Miko, Miko's horse, Vaarsuvius or the Oracle himself. The Oracle simply responds [[Mathematician's Answer|"Yes"]] without ever saying which. {{spoiler|On Belkar's return visit, the Oracle claims this prophecy has already been fulfilled. He argues, using [[Insane Troll Logic|increasingly dubious logic]], that Belkar caused the death of Roy, (a ''somewhat'' plausible argument) then also that he indirectly caused Miko's death, (really reaching for that one) and that he killed Miko's horse. (Which is complete BS). Belkar finally loses patience and fulfills the prophecy then and there--by stabbing the Oracle to death. The dying Oracle then reveals that he didn't actually believe any of the stuff he was spouting, he was just trying to weasel out of being stabbed (though fortunately [[Death Is a Slap on The Wrist]]).}}

* ''[[Irregular Webcomic]]'' returned to the origin of this trope a few times.

*** Alternatively, only Imperial Stormtroopers are ''exactly'' this precise. Others are either more so or less.

*** From a statistical perspective, ''precision'' refers to distribution, while ''accuracy'' refers to how close something is to where it actually ought to be. So, of the Stormtroopers' shots are actually clustered in the wrong place, they could indeed be very '''precise''' without being at all '''accurate'''.

** [http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/2341.html And this one] makes fun of the original quote. Sadly, it doesn't link to this page.

* ''[[Darths and Droids]]'' - "That's Jedi for "I lied my butt off," isn't it?"

* In ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' a pair of [[The Mafiya|Mafiya]] henchmen leave Riff and Torg "free to go." If being tied to railroad tracks fits into your definition of "free."

* Seen in [http://betweenfailures.com/2008/04/01/262-drink-soda/ this exchange] in ''[[Between Failures]]''. Nina thought [http://betweenfailures.com/2008/01/22/212-up-to-here/ Thomas was getting chewed out by their manager], but what he actually got was... [http://betweenfailures.com/2008/02/13/228-prelude-to-a-kiss/ more pleasant].

** Doc Scratch, ''constantly''. As he puts it:

{{quote|[http://mspaintadventures.com/?s{{=}}6&p{{=}}005529 Lies of omission do not exist.]

Your demands are based on a feeling of entitlement to the facts, which is very childish. You can never know all of the facts. Only I can.

And since it's impossible for me to reveal all facts to you, it is my discretion alone that decides which facts will be revealed in the finite time we have.

If I do not volunteer information you deem critical to your fate, it possibly means that I am a scoundrel, but it does not mean that I am a liar. And it certainly means you did not ask the right questions.

** Most notably, he tells Rose that The Tumor has sufficient power to destroy the Green Sun (the main villain's power source), that setting it off at the site of the Green Sun would lead to his death, and that destroying the Green Sun would kill him. Then she and Dave go to the site of the Green Sun and [[Stable Time Loop|find it empty, and the Tumor opens to reveal it channels exactly the amount of mass-energy the Green Sun contains]]...

** Aradia, who admits she's taking a page from Doc Scratch's book, likewise never lies "[http://mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=003985 but thr0ugh 0missi0n]." She tells the other trolls that playing Sgrub is their only hope of surviving the end of the world; she doesn't tell them it's ''causing'' the same, and never did say they would ''win''.

* Katara's voiceover at the beginning of each episode of ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' is this, though possibly unintentionally. It's revealed that the four kingdoms were not always at peace before the conquest of the Fire Lords. In fact, 400 years before the time of the story, the Earth Kingdom was in a similar expansionist phase.

** This could be one of the reasons why Sozin wanted to "share Fire Nation prosperity."

 

== [[Real Life]] ==

* A large number of proposition bets used by grifters can be solved by looking very carefully at the wording. For example, "I bet you that I can take a brand new deck of cards, make the ace jump out of the pack, fly across the room, and write your name on your forehead". If you hear this said aloud, most people assume that the ace will do all of the actions listed. Looking more carefully at the syntax of the sentence reveals that the actions can be done by the person making the bet rather than by the ace. (Incidentally, the usual way to win the bet is to flick the ace up from the bottom of the pack - where it usually is in most new, unshuffled decks - catch it, throw it across the room, and then take a pen to write the person's name on their forehead.)

** The actual syntax of that proposition makes it impossible for the grifter to win, as he will fail to fly across the room. He might when he tries to collect...

* Politics as a whole can rest on this; for example, take this example of a [http://twitter.com/#!/TomHarrisMP/status/12848387174965249 British MP] claiming that his party had not broken an election promise, as the law would not take effect until after the next election (but was voted on comfortably three years into Parliament).

* There's a free picture that comes on some iPod Touches that says "I didn't slap you, I high-fived your face." Technically true, since in a high-''five'' only one hand needs to be involved.

** Similar thing happened for [[Mass Effect 3]] - the developer claims that its conclusion "has provoked a bigger fan reaction than any other video games' conclusion in history". It's true. They fail to mention, however, that it was a hugely ''negative'' reaction.

* An old, possibly apocryphal story about underage soldiers in the [[American Civil War]] says that when they went to join up, many of them would write "18" on a piece of paper and stick it in their shoe. When the recruiter asked how old they were, they could join without having lied, as they were "over 18."

* [[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]].

* Before being revealed as Watergate scandal source [[Deep Throat]], W. Mark Felt stated "I never leaked information to Woodward and Bernstein or anyone else!" This is actually logically true; since he met only with Bob Woodward, he could not have met with Woodward AND anyone.

* 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.

"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.)