Fake news is a really useful invention.
You don't have to actually deny something, just call it fake news.
Donald Trump used it when talking to journalists after his first meeting with Malcolm Turnbull.
All - or so it seemed from everything the penguin-suited pair said - was sweetness and light between them and between their countries.
Their famously testy phone call last January, which seemed such a spicy prelude to their first face-to-face meeting, was obliterated in a torrent of Trumpisms.
"That was an exaggeration," the president said.
"We had a great call. I mean, we're not babies. We had a great call...it was a bit of fake news is the expression."
Of course the main occasion - a posh dinner commemorating the Battle of the Coral Sea - meant mutual national admiration was obligatory.
And in his later dinner speech the president did say the phone call was nice but a bit testy.
Trump, when talking to the media, laid it on thickly as he promised to come to Australia.
"One of the great, great places," he enthused. "One of the most beautiful places on earth.
"I have so many friends there. I will be there. We will be there absolutely."
He also praised Australia's health care system, saying it was better than the US's.
But with Trump battling to dismantle Obamacare, that was a remark for a domestic political audience.
Turnbull spoke briefly about the Coral Sea battle - which was the centrepiece of his later dinner speech - but generally had trouble getting a word in edgeways.
Much of the time he simply leaned towards Trump and grinned. It looked a bit lapdogish, but what else could he do?
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