the.com/smoke screen
Fog you create so nobody notices what you're actually hiding.
means A tactic, excuse, or distraction deliberately used to hide one's real intentions or actions.
from Literal before it was figurative: military forces burned chemicals or oil to produce dense smoke that hid troop movements, ships, or positions from the enemy, a tactic used since at least the 19th century and refined heavily in the World Wars. By the early 1900s, writers had already lifted the phrase into politics and daily speech, using it for any cover story or diversion thrown up to obscure the truth — the fog changed from literal to rhetorical, but the job stayed the same.
- origin
- literal naval tactic, ships hid behind chemical smoke
- military use
- wwii destroyers belched smoke to dodge torpedoes
- modern use
- corporate jargon designed to bury the real answer
- tell
- the more confident the tone, the thicker the smoke