straight talk

straight talk (uncountable)

1. Simple, honest speaking.
   • 1891, Rudyard Kipling, Life's Handicap, ch. 20:

     "I asked for straight talk, and thou hast given me sweet talk."

   • 1917, Zane Grey, Wildfire, ch 2:

     "Tell him to go back to Durango and forget the foolish girl. . . ."

     "All right. That is straight talk, like an Indian's.

   • 2008 Jan. 23, James Carney, "The Resurrection of John McCain," Time:

     [H]e told voters in the economically ravaged state that lost auto-industry jobs "aren't coming back," a dose of undiluted straight talk that probably cemented his loss there.

• straight talker