Friday, July 17, 2015

"Honestly" in Statement Analysis

You've likely heard this expression more than a few times in the past month.  It is a common expression, or even to some, a 'figure of speech' and it is associated with deception.

A quick read would conclude, "the person said,'honestly', so it means he is lying."

This is incorrect.

To use the phrase, "honestly" indicates a change of sorts, for the subject.  It is associated with deception, but the deception itself cannot be gleaned from this single indicator.

Here are some examples,

"Honestly, you don't need this medication any longer" said a doctor to elderly female patient.

What did this signify?

It may be that the doctor, due to laws of confidentiality, as well as the incessant flow of patients who self-diagnose, causing him to carefully watch his words, is attempting to reach his patient, perhaps in a world of placebo and confidentiality.

In fact, professionals who practice confidentiality (including medical, social services, and even law enforcement) regular are deceptive via withholding information.  It is not an unethical deception, but a practical one:  they routinely withhold information from people, including information that they are thinking about at the time of the statement which may give linguistic indication of such.

The word "honestly" shows that the subject is not always honest.  This can be a professional deception, as in a case where a young prosecutor goes home, thinking about a case that weighs heavily upon him, with a burden to unload, knowing he cannot talk about it.  Perhaps even more pressure is upon a therapist who has a bizarre case, or even a celebrity, who has confided a dark secret.  The therapist, like all humans, has a need to talk, but cannot.  If she is talking to family, while thinking about what the celebrity told her, she may be willfully attempting to avoid disclosing what is on her mind:

it may likely show up in her language.

"Honestly" is also the language of 'polite deception' in society, as "Honestly, your hair style looks nice" from a normally reserved or quiet person who is breaking his habit of non-commenting.

"Honestly" is also frequently found in the language of criminals and in a police statement, it is often an indicator that the subject has not been honest up to this point in the statement.

Rather than conclude "deception", it is more a "take note!" warning to the reader/analyst.

In a police statement, the setting (context) is an accusation.  This is important to remember in the "expected versus unexpected."

In all figures of speech, as well as habits, we ask:

"What has caused this to arise here?" followed by "What caused it not to arise elsewhere?"

"You know" is a good example.

Does the person say it every sentence?  Doubtful.

We note what topic causes it to present itself in the language, as well as all the other assertions that did not cause it to be used.  "You know" is a signal that, at this point in the statement where it has arisen, the subject is acutely aware of the Interviewer's presence at this point.  In public speaking, substitute "the Interviewer" for "the audience" and the same principle applies.

What topic was part of the sentence that caused this awareness to increase?  Why this topic, and not other topics?

Then we begin our series of internal rhetorical questions of "why?"quietly, or in our note taking, with the intention of re-visiting the specific wording that produced "you know" in the subject's language.

Therefore, we note "you know" everywhere in a statement.

When you hear "honestly", it may be:

a.  The person has been less than honest or "forthcoming" prior to this;
b.  The person is being honest at this point, wanting to be believed;
c.  The person is now deceptive, calling up a strengthening word to buttress the weakness of deception;
d.  The person has an association with deception
e.  The person has a professional association with deception, such as professionals (Try asking a HR professional personal informant about a fellow employee and you'll hear this word because the professional withholds personal information from others routinely)
f.  The person has an association with social deception
g.  The person is a criminal
h.  The person is a sales person who routinely is deceptive
i.   etc
j.  etc
k.  etc

The many variables all require due diligence and not a rush to judgement in deception indication.

23 comments:

Sugacat said...

I notice when I use the term "Honestly" its most often at work and I'm about to tell someone some bad news that they won't want to hear. That their policy with us is only limited coverage and they don't have coverage for they type of loss they just had.

Anonymous said...

Honestly, since i first started reading this blog i have removed "Honestly" from my internal dictionary. Seriously everytime it pops into my mind i self edited, usually just leaving it out all together. I did that in a meeting with my boss the other day. I didn't use it for the entire hour we talked. He used it several times, and everytime he did I thought......LIAR!

And that's the GODS honest truth!

GetThem said...

I was happy to see this refresher on "honestly" because it came up a couple times lately! I loved that you included "you know" in here too, thank you!

Tania Cadogan said...

As a matter of interest.
Has the mother of Ember Graham said anything since her hubby and Ember's father was shot and killed by LE?

I am asking as my reaction in such a scenario is where is my baby?
Did he say anything whilst he was in the gunfight about my daughter?
I want to know what he did with Baby Ember?

he actions once it was announced they found a pacifier which could be Ember's would indicate perhaps guilty knowledge.
He knew the game was up and rather than hand himself in and speak the truth, opted instead to fight it out with LE.
He knows what happens to child killers, was this a form of suicide by cop?

If i was Ember's mother i would be there where they found the pacifier, i would be searching till i dropped.
I would be raging that he took the truth of what happened to my daughter to his grave.
I would have to be restrained from physically digging him up and screaming for answers from his corpse.
I would be desperate.
I would suspect the truth but refuse to accept it.
That he could do something to my child.
I would be grieving but still begging the public for help, for tips, in the hope that maybe, just maybe, she is alive somewhere.
if she wasn't i would still be the same asking for help to bring her remains home, so she could have a dignified burial.

I would be raging that the killer escaped justice.
I would not be silenced.

Why then do i hear nothing?

Tania Cadogan said...

Off topic

Shasta County authorities say a pacifier found in the Ono area last week belonged to Ember Graham

The pacifier, found off of Platina Road July 10, was submitted to the Department of Justice Laboratory for DNA analysis. The lab confirmed Friday that the pacifier did belong to Ember Graham.

The DNA found on the nipple is a kinship match to Ember's mother Jamie Graham and father Matthew Graham.

Matthew Graham, who had been considered a person of interest in the 6-month-old's disappearance, was shot and killed by authorities near Dunsmuir on Monday.

Graham had been on the run since Saturday July 11, when he learned the pacifier had been found.

http://www.actionnewsnow.com/news/ember-graham-s-dna-found-on-pacifier-found-in-ono/


This is why the father ran and ended up in a gunfight with LE.

He knew the game was up

Anonymous said...

How much DNA could there be on a dried out pacifier found lying on the ground? It is amazing that the pacifier was found to harbor the DNA of both Jamie, Mathew and baby Ember Graham. So it's found then Matthew goes on the run and gets shot. How could he know that it was Ember's pacifier unless he recognized the area where it was found, since a lost pacifier could belong to any number of hundreds of babies? I guess the question answers itself. He knew.

NOW, where's mama Jamie, with all her glowing belief and trust in Matthew? Strangely silent. She needs to be looked at a little more carefully. I didn't believe her then and I don't believe her now. For beginners, you don't allow your helpless baby to visit in a nasty, filthy pen her dear hubby was piled up in. You just don't, I don't care if he IS the baby's daddy. That right there shows how little she cared for her sick severely epileptic baby. She's another lyin' POS.

Tania Cadogan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Tania Cadogan said...

Off topic

An Arizona mother was sentenced to life in prison without parole on Friday for the death of her five-year-old daughter whose body was never found.

Jerice Hunter, 41, was convicted in April of first-degree murder and child abuse in the death of Jhessye Shockley.


Prosecutors said Hunter had a friend give her a ride to a neighboring city so she could dump a suitcase containing the body in a trash bin before telling authorities the child was missing in 2011.

Prosecutors said the girl was beaten, neglected, deprived of food and water, and confined to a closet before her body was dumped.

She was never found, even though officers picked through 9,500 tons of garbage at landfills.

Hunter showed no reaction when a Maricopa County Superior Court judge read the sentence of natural life in prison for the murder count and a consecutive 20-year prison term for child abuse.

Before she was sentenced, Hunter asked the judge for leniency.

'I know I've been made out to be a horrible person and a monster of a mother,' Hunter said. 'I've been convicted of a horrible crime, which I most definitely did not commit.'

Hunter has maintained her innocence since Glendale police identified her as a suspect about a month after her daughter disappeared. Her lawyers said there was no proof the girl was dead.

She reported Jhessye missing in October 2011. Police say the mother told them she left Jhessye with the girl's older siblings while she ran errands, and returned to the family's Glendale apartment to find the child gone.

About 100 police officers who fanned across Hunter's neighborhood knocked on doors and stopped motorists to see if they knew anything about the disappearance. An Amber alert was issued.

A 96-day search of a landfill ended without finding Jhessye's remains.

Authorities say Hunter was arrested after inconsistencies with her account were mounting and after witnesses came forward.

Defense attorney Candice Shoemaker said Jhessye's teacher and a Child Protective Services agent who investigated the family did not notice any signs of abuse.

The lawyer also said none of Hunter's other children had shown signs of abuse at the time.

Hunter was arrested in 2005 with her then-husband on child abuse charges in California.

She pleaded no contest to corporal punishment and served about four years in prison before she was released on parole in 2010.

Read more:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3166079/Jerice-Hunter-sentenced-life-without-parole-death-starving-five-year-old-daughter-threw-away-like-trash.html

Juliet said...

A little while back I was horrified to hear myself begin a reply to a question with, 'To be honest...' and spent the rest of the evening wondering what I had not been honest about up till that point, and also some time since, but I still can't work it out. (Offers of assistance not welcome, thanks!) I like the possibilities presented here, though, perhaps I can convince myself that up to that point I must have just been replying somehow expediently, or had been unable to say something, yet without intending to deceive.

jen-d said...

Is "honestly" synonymous with "seriously"?

Anonymous said...

I remember little Jhessyee. I also remember that there was more to the child abuse cases against this mother at the time little Jehessee had gone missing. If I recall correctly, she had recently been released from prison on another child abuse case. She was an evil woman and Jhesysee was her prime target.

She knows where she dumped this poor broken child. I hope other inmates or guards beat it out of her in prison. I do not necessarily believe the statements made by the child's teacher and the DCF case worker; she had lost Jhessyee once before. Naturally they would try to hide not looking after this childs' continuous and on-going abuse; even her mother lied for her. I hope now she has to help raise the rest of the kids. Serves her right.

I recall at the time, there were several who knew she was being abused and left locked in a closet with no food or water, beaten and left to lie in her own waste, including some of her siblings who knew.

This pathetic little girl was blessed when she went home to the arms of the Gentle Master, God rest her little soul. She's an angel now, no more pain, no more tears.

Anonymous said...

Seriously, he he; I try not to use the term "honestly" or "to be honest with you" (as if I'm not always being honest, or trying to be); or, "to tell you the truth" (as if I don't always tell the truth, or try too).

Sometimes I catch myself almost saying one of those expressions just in time as I know the affect it has on most people. And that's not good. It's a habit worth breaking.

Juliet said...

Anonymous - so you hope the grandmother, who covered for her abusive daughter, has to help raise her other kids? Has to, as in viewing that as some sort of punishment, rather than as a privilege? It might be better if she doesn't have too much involvement in their lives, much less get to raise them, if the welfare of her abused grand-daughter did not take priority over protecting her daughter. (I don't know the case, so just going on what you have said about it. ) Would it interest you to know that I wouldn't want you as a grandparent if you really take the view that dead kids are angels, while living ones are a nuisance? Probably not. As for wishing violence upon someone - well, that's more than a tad primitive, and rules you out even further.

Anonymous said...

WOW Juliet! I was almost with you at first, thinking you're right, I probably shouldn't have said I hope the grandmother has to help raise the other kids; but then, from memory, I remember how the kids said they were happy with their grandmother when their mother was in prison.

Yes, it can be a mixed bag of privilege and punishment for a grandmother to have to raise her grandkids. Whether you know it or not, it's a thankless job that can consume the final years of a senior woman's strength and health, AND finances.

As for my view of an abused, battered, beaten, starved (and violently raped) child; I do not back down. Oh yeah; it is merciful when God takes them out of their misery and they become little angels in His Kingdom to suffer no more pain in the loving arms of Jesus. You're saying you'd rather see them go on being tormented?

It seems to ME that it's YOU who prefers continuing violence for these unmercifully and painfully abused little ones who know no peace, than for them to find peace and love at long last. Barrfff!

Anonymous said...






P.S... Concerning my hope that this evil POS gets the daylights beat out of her by other female prisoners and guards to make her tell where she dumped her little girl, who at the very LEAST deserves a proper Christian burial; oh yes I do.

She doesn't deserve to lie down on her cot with no pain on her body or hunger in her belly after the years she beat, starved and abused poor little Jhessyee. I don't even care if they gouge her eyes out. Maybe THEN she might start to see what she did to this poor little girl.

No ma'am, no compassion for her coming from me. NONE. Zero. Zilch. Nada. She put that child through a hell on this earth. Now she deserves some of it back.

Juliet said...

Anon, the surviving children would probably have been happier with anyone than with their mother if she is the monster you describe, so I don't find their preference for the grandmother to necessarily make her a suitable person to raise them. If they witnessed the abuse they were no doubt afraid of what their mother might also do to them, and felt safer when they were away from her.

No, I didn't say I would rather a child go on being tormented, so please don't put words in my mouth.

Have You considered that you do violence to your own soul in harbouring such hate-filled thoughts against another human being? Wishing for more violence in the world is not a good answer to anything.

Anonymous said...

Have it your way, Juliet, whatever suits you. BuT DON'T try to psycho analyze my soul, you're not qualified or competent to do this. There's not a living soul on the face of this earth, or dead, that I hate.

On the other hand, you're just a little bit sick, finding excuses for this monster mother child killer; when in fact, you are saying the abused child is better off to go on being tormented and abused than in the arms of Jesus. Yes my dear, this is exactly what you're saying. Tell me, do you even know Jesus? If you do, who WOULDN'T rather be there where there is peace and comfort and no more pain?

I repeat, the woman monster deserves her just due. Like it or lump it. Take note: I did NOT wish her to go to hell for all eternity. She deserves to pay NOW; eternal judgment is God's call to make, not ours. All these things are right there in the scriptures. You ought to read them sometime!

Meanwhile, enough already. Have a good evening.

P.S... You could be right, however, about the grandmother.

Juliet said...

Anon, I wasn't trying to psycho analyse your soul, it's just a general truth, that thinking in those ways is not good for the soul, but 'Whatsoever things are good, etc - think on those things.' - 'kind words are like honey, and good for the soul' - 'a gentle tongue can break a bone', just to be going on with. You have a good evening, too - it,s 4.48am here.

Anonymous said...

Oh PLLEEEAZE Juliet! I've already said, have it your way. What more do you want? however, I will NOT bow the knee to your denial that this abused, starved and cruelly murdered child is not better off in the arms of Jesus where she has no more pain and tears; further, no remembrance of things past. She is much better off now whether you admit it or not.

Not good for the soul? I could call you a fool but I won't. However, you do need to realize that there are terrible tragedies that can happen to us on this earth (and do), where we have to recognize that we have a better life waiting, and THIS is little Jhessye's glorious reward and fate in the end of her tragic life. To quote you: "Whatsoever things are good ((and lovely)), you missed part of the quote, etc., think on these things." THIS is exactly what I've done in the case of this beaten, starved and battered-to-death child; placed her in the arms of Jesus where she belongs, where she has no more pain; she is an angel now in His kingdom.

My beautiful and brilliant son passed on of a massive heart attack in Sept, 2014; just how do you think I am able to cope with this great grief? Only by KNOWING that he is out of his pain and disappointments and is in a better place, IN the arms of Jesus; where there IS a better life than the one he had in his sickness.

I miss him terribly, think of him day and night and long to put my arms around him one more time and at the moment of his death; but I DO thank God that he was taken to a better place, one filled with peace, love and light, sparing him from the heartaches, disappointments and pain yet to come. You see Juliet, we never know what tricks the evil one has set up to ensnare us, we just have to KNOW that God is still on the throne, trust and believe Him. He has a better life waiting for us and I just thank Him that He looked upon this child with mercy and took her on to her real home, which is NOT on this earth. You've got a lot to learn Juliet. xxxxs

Juliet said...

I am sorry for the loss of your son, Anonymous. It's best not to assume, though, that you are the only one here who lives with the grief of having lost a beautiful and brilliant child to a sudden death. Knowing this makes your anger more understandable,and yes, we hope that a better life awaits us all, and that our children are not lost to us for ever - but in the meantime, and as is this is the life we do have, and the one of which we are assured for as long as it lasts, it's good to try and live it as well as we can, even with all the heartache.

Juliet said...

PS My grandmother used to say 'never call your brother a fool or a liar, or you'll end up in hell's fire'. Besides that, she was fine, not nearly so scary as you. :-)

Anonymous said...

Sorry for the loss of my son? I don't think you are. You always trip all over yourself, Juliet.

You just have to have the last word, don't you?

Alrighty then, you've got it!

BTW, the scripture you are tying to quote is stated incorrectly. You might want to look it up. ta ta...

Juliet said...

My grandmother turned it into a rhyme - it's not meant to be an accurate quotation from scripture, only of my grandmother. :) I know the earlier ones are just more or less - I couldn't be bothered to check them. I'm not desperately interested in having the last word, so feel free, if you like, though there seems little point in continuing this - we're just cluttering the comments here with irrelevant posts to the point of discourtesy.