Im kidding. If your heart is in the right place, you e fine. You e good. You e kind. You have a good conscience. You e perfectly alright. Perhaps not perfectly alright, for whenever people say your heart is in the right place, they must be discussing something annoying, rude or intolerable about you. They might imply as much at any rate if they do not explicitly say so. You see, the phrase – a useful idiom it is – is never left standing on its own. Theres usually a preceding "although" or a "but" trailing behind. Take this song (Love me for me) by Ashlee Simpson, for example: No I didn really mean to say that Im mixed up, so what My head is spinning but my heart is in the right place Got the picture? I may have said something, but I don mean it. One way of looking at it is that Im good at heart and so you can trust me. Another way of looking at is, of course, that "my heart is in the right place" admits to some wrongdoing – in this case, saying things that might have hurt. In short, "ones heart is in the right place" means they e good even though they may not appear to be so. Thats the full picture. Here are media examples: 1. A headline: Americas heart is in the right place – usually. - Telegraph.co.uk (January 6, ) 2. His heart is in the right place, but he can seem to do anything right. - The Conservative Case Against Bush, Wall Street Journal, March 13, . 3. This movies heart is in the right place, which is one way of saying its terrible. - Ninas Heavenly Delights, New York Post, November 30, .
