Truth or Consequences made its television debut on this date in 1950, but even before that parlor game entered the electronic age, folks had whiled away the hours playing Truth or Consequences. According to the rules, players are challenged to answer questions truthfully; if they lie or if they refuse to answer, they face the consequence: a penalty meted out by other players.

We'll sit this game out, but not without passing along a few truths about truths. We begin with home truth, a term with connotations both negative and neutral. A home truth can either name "an unpleasant fact that jars the sensibilities" or it can refer to "a statement of undisputed fact."

The Bible tells us, "The truth shall make you free." But what is the truth? Philosopher Alfred North Whitehead believed, "There are no whole truths; all truths are half-truths. It is trying to treat them as whole truths that plays the devil."

So what's a half-truth? Whitehead probably used that term to mean "a statement that is only partially true," but half-truth has a more consciously nocent sense too: "a statement mingling truth and falsehood with deliberate intent to deceive."

But remember that getting to the truth is neither simple nor for the faint of heart. As Willa Cather put it, "The stupid believe that to be truthful is easy; only the artist. . . knows how difficult it is."