Stop “Speaking YourTruth”. Because it May Not be True.

Thoughts on the world’s worst phrase

A couple of days ago, I posted something on social media. I took a break from meeting the insatiable public demand to see pictures of my nachos to say that my least favorite phrase in the English language (After, of course, “we don’t serve nachos here. It’s a hardware store”) is “He spoke his truth”. For me, hearing somebody referring to speaking their truth is like listening to nails on a chalkboard, a buzz-saw, a test of the emergency broadcast service and Celine Dion’s Great Hits, all overdubbed together and put on a mix-tape.

My posting inspired an unusual volume of of on-line discussion and debate. So I thought I’d write in greater detail about why this phrase is so odious to me. But fear not! Tomorrow I’ve already booked a table at “Bibi’s Nacho Dungeon” for lunch, and I’m bringing my new I-phone with higher resolution photography along!

What my original post said was that “speaking your truth” was not a thing. We don’t each get our own truth. There is one truth, and that is the thing which is true. Everything else is false.

The reasons for my antipathy to this phrase are many. First, as a matter of basic grammar, it’s discordant. It takes something that is objective, “truth” and modifies it with an adjective that is epitome of…