There was the following sentence in the article titled “Why Rick Perry may be out of luck” appearing in the New Yorker (August 19):
"Last Friday, the Texas Governor was indicted on two counts: abuse of
official capacity and coercion of a public servant. What those charges
mean, though, is hard to say. The indictment itself is just two pages
and, to put it charitably, unelaborated."
http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/rick-perry-may-luck
I’m unfamiliar with the phrase, “to put it charitably.”
CED defines “charitably” as;
Verb. in a kind way, not judging other people in a severe way: example. She described him, rather charitably, as quiet whereas I would have said he was boring.
But the above definition doesn’t look sit well to me with the sentence, “two-page indictment, to put it charitably is unelaborated,” because “unelaborated” indictment is felt to be rather a bitter criticism.
Google Ngram shows popularity of “to put it mildly” (0.0000183846% in 2007) in comparison with marginal currency of “to put it charitably (0.0000005512% in 2007).
What does “to put it charitably” here mean? Is it same with “to put it mildly" or "to say the least”? If it is, I wonder why the writer preferred to use a phrase not so popular.
Best Answer
To put something charitably means to express a negative feature in the most favorable way. However, it's usually used sarcastically, when describing something you think is very wrong. By specifically pointing out that you're being charitable, the reader understands that you're avoiding the obvious negatives.
In the example you gave, the writer is implying that the indictment should be more detailed. But rather than say this right out, he uses a mild way to say that it's incomplete.