United Kingdom, Information, Words Undershoot

Economical with the Truth

In 1986, Sir Robert Armstrong, the Cabinet Secretary, gave evidence in the Supreme Court of New South Wales in Sydney, in the Spycatcher trial. Under cross-examination by Malcolm Turnbull, then a barrister, he said that a letter contained “a misleading impression,” not a lie. “A lie is a straight untruth,” he said. Then he added: “As one person said, it is perhaps being economical with the truth.”

The phrase was not his own. Edmund Burke had written of an “oeconomy of truth” in the 1790s. Within weeks of the trial, MPs were using “economical with the truth” in the House of Commons.

A Scratch

In Act 3 of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Mercutio is stabbed in a street fight. Asked whether he is hurt, he answers: “Ay, ay, a scratch, a scratch. Marry, ’tis enough.”

The wound kills him before the end of the scene. Even then he keeps up the joke. He calls his killer a “cat, to scratch a man to death!”

Not British Airways’ Finest Hour

Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport opened on 27 March 2008. According to a report by the Commons Transport Committee, 36,584 passengers were affected by problems on the first day. According to British Airways, 23,205 bags had to be sorted by hand before they could be returned to their owners. The next day, Willie Walsh, chief executive of British Airways, said: “Yesterday was definitely not British Airways’ finest hour.”

At a hearing of the Transport Committee in May 2008, he said: “It is clear we made mistakes and compromised on the testing regime.”

It Has Not Escaped Our Notice

On 25 April 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick published the structure of DNA in Nature. Near the end of their short paper, they wrote: “It has not escaped our notice that the specific pairing we have postulated immediately suggests a possible copying mechanism for the genetic material.”

The sentence pointed to how life copies itself. It has been described as possibly one of the biggest understatements in biology.

A Spot of Bother

British English has many mild phrases for serious trouble.

A spot of bother: A real problem.

A bit of a pickle: A difficult situation.

Not ideal: Bad.

Slightly disappointing: A failure.

Could be worse: This is bad.

A bit nippy: Very cold.

Not the end of the world: Annoying, and costly.

Undiluted Pleasure

On 24 November 1992, in a speech at Guildhall in London marking 40 years since her accession, Queen Elizabeth II looked back on the year. She said: “1992 is not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure.”

She went on: “In the words of one of my more sympathetic correspondents, it has turned out to be an ‘Annus Horribilis’.”

Requires Improvement

Until 2012, Ofsted, the inspectorate for schools in England, used four grades: outstanding, good, satisfactory and inadequate. A school graded satisfactory did not provide a good standard of education.

In September 2012, the chief inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, replaced satisfactory with requires improvement. Ofsted said: “Satisfactory should never have been more than a staging post on a school’s journey towards providing a good or outstanding education for all children.”

Faint Praise

In his Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot, first published in January 1735, Alexander Pope drew the portrait of a literary rival. Such a man would “Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer,” and was “Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike.”

Bear It in Mind

In a survey published in January 2019, YouGov asked people in Britain what common British phrases mean. Fifty-five percent said that “I’ll bear it in mind” means “I’ve forgotten it already.” Fifty-seven percent said that “You must come for dinner” is said out of politeness, not as a real invitation.

Recollections May Vary

On 9 March 2021, Buckingham Palace issued a statement on behalf of the Queen after Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, had made allegations of racism in a television interview with Oprah Winfrey.

The statement said: “The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning. While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately.”