"There's nothing to tell" is a response to someone's asking for details about an event or a story, where the responder implies that the information the asker wants to know doesn't actually apply to the event or story.
For example:
Q: "What happened at the party last night?"
R: "There's nothing to tell."
(Nothing happened or things that you don't really care about happened, but that's it - i.e. I hung out for five minutes and went home.)
The responder could also say, "There's nothing to tell," in order to downplay what actually happened.
For example:
Q: "It must've been really hard to
become such a good swimmer. How did
you do it?"
R: "There's nothing to tell."
(The answer is too long and/or boring, so I'll spare you the details.)
Another instance is your own suggestion of using "There's nothing to tell" to mean, "I don't want to tell you what happened."
"There's nothing to say" is very similar to "There's nothing to tell" in that the responder thinks any response the asker might expect either doesn't apply or doesn't matter. It's also possible that the responder doesn't really want to answer the question. The biggest difference is that "tell" generally involves some sort of story or narrative, and "say" involves some sort of issue or non-narrative topic.
For example:
"I would love to visit Area 51.
Wouldn't you?"
"There's nothing to say."
(I don't think it exists, so my response doesn't apply.)
"Do you think signing that bill into
law was the right decision?"
"There's nothing to say."
(It doesn't matter what I think.)
A person with a “positive outlook” could be described as a positive person. You could say he has a positive personality.
A positive person will hope to receive the promotion, but if he doesn’t he won’t be disappointed.
From dictionary.com:
positive
9. emphasizing what is laudable, hopeful, or to the good; constructive: a positive attitude toward the future; positive things to say about a painting.
10. not speculative or theoretical; practical: a positive approach to the problem.
Best Answer
The word ‘downright’ matches closer to your intended emphasis of “without shame”; as compared to ‘outright’ which emphasizes abruptness without any hesitation that (possibly )was due, while also typically suggesting (to a lower degree than the former term) that doing the thing at-all is wrong.
My source of reference is everyday American English. If you search various definitions then you probably shall find that 'downright' specifically has a negative connotation and in common usage is preceded by some ostensibly-bad quality or thing (e.g. "downright ugly") , whereas 'outright' is not as explicitly meant disfavorably (as it can in some instances be beneficial or at least neutral sans broader context, e.g. "outright told me" implying "didn't wait to tell me" as opposed to "quick to give a blunt comment" ---unlike 'downright' which very seldom that would be the case, i.e. "downright joyful" is uncommon if not implicitly oxymoronic).