Excellent question, ToolGuy. It's like the question, do the ends justify the means. I don't think so. There must be a tactful way of honesty or an avoidance of the question.

I find the fault in the human trait of preferring what we want to hear over the truth. Often, we can't handle the truth! We are often too busy defending the ego that we can't use an unpleasant truth constructively.

It is a good and necessary skill for anyone who wants to function in basic social situations or be successful in life. Anyone who says they never do it is lying or not very self aware.