I previously wrote about the overuse of pleasantries in conversation. Recently, I’ve noticed a heightened use of another common set of colloquial phrases that seem to send an unintended message, which is to begin a sentence by using some version of the following phrase: “If I’m being honest”; or “in full transparency”; or “To be candid”. If I have to explicitly start a phrase with “if I’m being honest”, does that imply that the other times I speak, I’m being dishonest? If you’re only speaking transparently part of the time, are you hiding things the rest of the time?
Obviously, that’s not the intent and I understand it is a commonly used colloquial phrase. But hopefully you’re always speaking honestly and if that’s the case, with a little intention, you can drop the disclaimer.
…and if I’m being honest, I’m guilty of doing this much more often than I would like to admit!