Word: falsehoods
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...customs officials. At the time, he signed receipts saying the guns were for Army use, but in his testimony he insisted that the receipts were a mere "formality." Not so, said a spokesman for one of the donors, Chicago Police Superintendent James Conlisk: "The general is engaging in falsehood." Last June, seven of the weapons were seized as part of an illegal arms shipment to rebels in Haiti...
...could argue that American English is under siege from linguistic falsehood, but euphemisms today have the nagging persistence of a headache. Despite the increasing use of nudity and sexual innuendo in advertising, Madison Avenue is still the great exponent of talking to "the average person of good upbringing"-as one TV executive has euphemistically described the ordinary American-in ways that won't offend him. Although this is like fooling half the people none of the time, it has produced a handsome bouquet of roses by other names. Thus there is "facial-quality tissue" that is not intended...
...Justice compounded his own troubles-and the furor in Congress-by brushing off LIFE'S original disclosure of the Wolfson link with a preliminary statement that omitted so much that it was almost a falsehood. It was not until the FBI had quizzed Wolfson in prison-using the power of a grand jury to force his testimony and to give him immunity from prosecution in connection with it-that Fortas wrote a fuller statement, along with his resignation...
...Never leave just a small light burning when you are leaving home. This has been used as a disguise so much that even the novice burglar comprehends that it is a falsehood and that no one is within the dwelling. When leaving your home for a shopping trip or an evening out, turn your radio on so that it can be heard by anyone standing near your front or rear door...
...York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964) vastly extended freedom of the press, holding that a public official could not collect on a defamatory falsehood relating to his official conduct unless he could prove that it was made recklessly or in malice...