disingenuous
adjective

- slightly dishonest; not speaking the complete truth (of a person or their behaviour)

(Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)

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Etymology: from the Latin "dis" (the opposite of) + "ingenuus" (of noble character, upright, honest)

The Disingenuous Raven

In May 2004, the Economist reported a remarkable experiment involving two ravens. One was a bully and one was more cowardly, but clever. The experiment was meant to see how far ravens would go to acquire food.

Hugin, the coward, tried a new strategy. As soon as Munin bullied him, he headed over to a set of empty containers, pried the lids off enthusiastically and pretended to eat. Munin followed, whereupon Hugin returned to the loaded containers and ate until he was full.

At first Dr. Bugnyar could not believe what he was seeing. He was anxious about sharing his observation for fear that no one would believe him. But he was convinced that Hugin was clearly misleading Munin.

As it happened, Munin was no dummy either. He soon grew wise to the tactic, and would not be led astray. He even stooped to trying to find the food rewards on his own! This made Hugin angry.

"He got very angry and started throwing things around," added Dr. Bugnyar. It seems that ravens are not only capable of deception, but also annoyance if their disingenuousness is discovered.

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SYNONYMS

crooked, cunning, deceitful, dishonest, feigned, foxy, guileful, shifty, sly, tricky, two-faced, underhanded

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Practice OWAD in a conversation today, say something like:

"It's important to sense if an applicant is being DISINGENUOUS when answering an interviewer's question."