I'm trying to think of a two-word phrase that I came across a while back, and I can't remember where I wrote it down. I thought maybe someone here could help. The definition is something along the lines of keeping the criminal/immoral activity of a staff member from the boss/politician for his own protection (and the criminal/immoral activity actually works to the advantage of the boss/politician). What's that called?
Linguistically appreciative,
The Correspondent
Plausible deniablity?
Emmett
Plausible deniability? It's not exactly what you describe, but it seems related. It is rather the benefit derived by keeping it from the boss. It gets the job done and provides him plausible deniability, the ability to deny his involvement or authorization in a credible way.
Is that what you are looking for?
YES! That's it! Thank you Emmett and Glenn.
I had a vague idea that the word "indemnity" was in there somewhere, but my husband -- who knew what I was talking about but couldn't think of the phrase -- was pretty sure it wasn't. He was right, obviously.
Gratefully,
The Correspondent
For the record, plausible deniability doesn't always involve an accomplice. Sometimes you can do something yourself and provide plausible deniability. For example, you can leave some information you want to make public on the photocopier. Or push a button on the conference-room phone, make a comment to those present, and then "realize" that you missed the mute button.
Note: Making a comment live, like "What a windbag!" and then asking "Was that out loud?" doesn't really work all that well.