fact of the matter, the

The truth. This rather empty phrase, for which plain and simple “fact” would do just as well, is somewhat newer than its turnaround companion, as a matter of fact, which means “in truth” and, as Eric Partridge pointed out years ago, often precedes a lie. Both have been clichés since the nineteenth century. Two closely related locutions are the truth of the matter and if truth be known, which generally precede an emphatic statement of how the speaker sees a situation. On the other hand, matter-of- fact used as an adjective has a quite different meaning, that is, straightfor- ward and commonplace, and a matter of fact without as has meant, since the sixteenth century, something of an actually factual nature.