Do you remember being a kid and answering a question with your fingers crossed behind your back? The idea was that you could tell a lie so long as your fingers are crossed. The crossed fingers let you off the hook. As adults, we excuse ourselves from speaking truth by saying that our “white lies” are to protect others and not harm anyone. How much deviation does it take to make a straight line crooked?
Proverbs 6:12 (ESV)
12 A worthless person, a wicked man, goes about with crooked speech