Some (most?) of these examples of truth are not. @VickyLiu nailed it. "Well...is there a payoff?" is not the truth. It is a loaded attack that hides what you trully feel and want. An honest response would look like this: "I feel exhausted from helping our son with homework. While I love listening to you, I would prefer not to hear the story right now." By redefining the truth as inappropriate obnoxiousness we allow ourselves to avoid the anxiety of being honest about our emotional experience. Honesty is not an attack on the other person, it is ego-less curiosity, a vulnerable exploration of our feelings. And it is core to amazing relationships!