# keep your story straight



## tagalogstudent

The phrase "keep your story straight" means that there are no holes in your logic.  Being unable to keep your story straight typically happens when you are interrogated by police, and you give them contradictory answers.

What Tagalog phrase best communicates that concept?


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## DotterKat

From the point of view of an interrogator trying to arrive at the truth, it would be:

"Magsabi ka ng totoo." _(Tell the truth.) ---- _The logic here being that a truthful response is inherently logical, no matter how fantastic the story may seem.
However, your text could also be seen from the point of view of the criminal or co-conspirator trying to keep their alibis in agreement. In which case, they might say something like:

"Siguraduhin mo ang sasabihin mo." _(Be certain of what you will say.)_


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## tagalogstudent

No, that's not what I'm saying.

Being unable to "keep your story straight" means that your answers are inconsistent.

For example, there is a video game where you play as a lawyer.  You try to win your cases by cross-examining the opposing side's witnesses, and you discredit them by finding flaws in their testimony. 
[...] the witnesses' statements contradict evidence, and sometimes even contradict other parts of their own testimony. What that means is, they can't _keep their story straight_.


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## Inglip

Siguraduhin mo ang sasabihin mo ay ipagka.

I am not super fluent. But that is, be certain that what you say is consistent.


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## tagalogstudent

Inglip said:


> be certain that what you say is consistent.


When I use a computer to translate that phrase into Tagalog, I get "Maging sigurado kung ano ang sinasabi mo ay pare-pareho."


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## Inglip

Like I said, I am still a student. But I know from experience of translators, that they are all pretty bad. They look for direct translations word for word. Even and expensive computer translation is still pretty wrong, nothing compares to a human translation. That being said, I am still a student and could be wrong.


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## DotterKat

I know exactly what your English text means. What I am trying to explain to you is that sometimes there are no direct equivalencies between languages, and this would be one case. I could enumerate a dozen ways to say that English text in Tagalog, but none of them would be as trite and obvious as "keep your story straight." Either the sentence will be too long (e.g. "Siguraduhin mo na tama at walang butas ang testimonya mo. --- _Make sure that your testimony is correct and that there are no loopholes_.) or the metaphor will be too far away from the "spirit" of _keep your story straight_ (e.g. Siguraduhin mo na matibay ang testimonya mo. --- _Make sure that your testimony is strong. --- that is, make sure that your testimony can withstand cross examination)._
Trying to force a banal Tagalog translation to that very well-used English text would be sophomoric. It simply will not work and any of the Tagalog sentences I have given you so far would be more than adequate as a substitute.


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