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English Idiom: Cook the books
If you have been following Japanese politics recently, the Moritomo Gakuen scandal is a perfect example of the idiom cook the books.
The head of the Japanese Land Ministry appeared in the diet to give testimony about the scandal.
After giving his evidence, the official records, which the ministry keeps, were altered to match the misinformation that he gave.
Imagine that, first, he lied, then he doctored the documents.
In other words, they cooked the books.
The phrase cook the books means to change facts or figures dishonestly or illegally.
That’s what the ministry did.
It took an official document, doctored it and then had the guts to present the altered text to lawmakers as the ‘official’ document.
Unfortunately for them, they are not very good at being dishonest, and the truth has come to light.
The truth eventually becomes known in almost all situations where someone cooks the books.
Not too long ago, a small group of investigative reporters revealed the Panama Papers scandal.
Many companies and wealthy individuals hid money in Panama and other places by cooking the books or altering their financial records.
The truth eventually becomes known, even when you try to cook the books.
Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test
This post is understandable by someone with at least a 9th-grade education (age 15).
On the Flesch-Kincaid reading-ease test, this post scores 55.
The easier a passage is to read, the higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100.