How honest are you really being if you’re coming up with silly logical scenarios to avoid answering a question truthfully? I just don’t see the point of being “technically honest” when you don’t want to reveal something? The only people who say, “I can neither confirm nor deny such and such” is when they are on trial and have a right against self-incrimination—not when they are talking to their friends.
So this all seems silly and unnecessary. If you don’t want your friend to know what you did, just change the subject or lie about it. Or tell them, “I’d rather not talk about it.” Let’s say I stay up doing cocaine with a male prostitute all night, but I don’t want to reveal this to my friend. If I say, “either I did or I don’t want to tell you” now you’ve created some suspicion which could involve some unwanted attention or scrutiny into your affairs, such as pressing forward with follow-up questions, or unwanted office gossip about your late night activities.
FRIEND: Did you get to sleep early last night?
Just lie and cover up the reason why you’re really tired.
“Yes, I went to bed early, but then woke up at 5AM and couldn’t get back to sleep.”
Deflect
“Sure, how about you? Or did you stay up watching binge watching Netflix again?”
Subject Change:
“Oh hey! Can we talk about that upcoming dinner party?” (they were just making small talk anyway, so swap to something more important.)
How honest are you really being if you’re coming up with silly logical scenarios to avoid answering a question truthfully? I just don’t see the point of being “technically honest” when you don’t want to reveal something? The only people who say, “I can neither confirm nor deny such and such” is when they are on trial and have a right against self-incrimination—not when they are talking to their friends.
So this all seems silly and unnecessary. If you don’t want your friend to know what you did, just change the subject or lie about it. Or tell them, “I’d rather not talk about it.” Let’s say I stay up doing cocaine with a male prostitute all night, but I don’t want to reveal this to my friend. If I say, “either I did or I don’t want to tell you” now you’ve created some suspicion which could involve some unwanted attention or scrutiny into your affairs, such as pressing forward with follow-up questions, or unwanted office gossip about your late night activities.
FRIEND: Did you get to sleep early last night?
Just lie and cover up the reason why you’re really tired.
“Yes, I went to bed early, but then woke up at 5AM and couldn’t get back to sleep.”
Deflect
“Sure, how about you? Or did you stay up watching binge watching Netflix again?”
Subject Change:
“Oh hey! Can we talk about that upcoming dinner party?” (they were just making small talk anyway, so swap to something more important.)