middle truth

A statement or affirmation whereby certain related factual content is manipulated and used to support a fallacious position. An example may be a situation in which someone receives a fair use ruling around the rights to intellectual property, and then uses that permission to then produce merchandise based on the IP, whilst informing customers that he has procured the rights to the IP. Comparison to "half truth" - At first glance, middle truth may seem a direct replacement for its related term, half truth. Popular usage, however, seems to indicate a preference for middle truth when using the term to defend past actions. The term half truth implies that the statement is half truth and half "something else", perhaps untruth, whereas middle truth seeks to position the argument on a spectrum made up entirely of truth, but of varying degrees. Therefore a middle truth is being positioned as a truth in the first place, but perhaps one of substandard quality, or even malformed in some way, but in no way polluted by actual lies. This positioning also seeks to identify the deliverer of the middle truth as misinformed or even incompetent at worst, as opposed to malicious or carrying any intent to harm. Comparison to "bullshit" - A closer term may be "bullshit". In the 1980 film The Blues Brothers, Elwood Blues, being accused by his brother of lying to him states, "I didn't lie to you. I just...bullshitted you." and clearly positions himself as "bullshitting" because he cared.