“A Man Who Tells the Truth Should Keep His Horse Saddled.” – Caucasus Proverb
Most people tell lies every day. We lie about feelings (“No, I’m not angry”), income (depending on whom we’re talking to), accomplishments (sports, war, business), sex life (no example needed), weight and height (more people are inclined to overstate their height than to understate their weight), and age. Recently a woman was celebrating her 39th birthday while her friend was stating, “That’s funny, I was in kindergarten with her and I’m 43.
For the last several years our society has set a new norm of truth. We have been presented with example after example of lies being trotted out as the truth. It seems to depend on what your political believes are if you are prepared to accept these lies without fact checking them.
Questions That Are Not Entitled to a Truthful Answer
- How much did you pay for that suit?
- Did you sleep with him/her?
- Did you have a facelift, tummy tuck, breast implant/reduction?
- Do you use Viagra?
- Who did you vote for?
Common Lies
- I’ll only be a minute.
- I could quit smoking tomorrow if I really wanted to.
- I got a five on that last hole. (The best wood on a golf course is the pencil)
- This won’t hurt a bit.
- I’m 29.
- If you leave the dishes to later, I’ll help you.
- If elected, I promise …
- You need a new camshaft (carburetor, brakes, transmission, etc.)
- We’ll be there to fix your furnace tomorrow morning.
- Our prices are the lowest.
- I’ll pay you back next Friday.
- I love watching your home movies.
- Fred won’t be at work today. He has the flu.
- You haven’t changed a bit.
- I’m going home right after this drink.
Lies of the Famous
Lying is always in the news. Remember the myth of George Washington saying, “ I cannot tell a lie, father I chopped down the cherry tree”?
Richard Nixon stated, “You don't know how to lie. If you can't lie, you'll never go anywhere.” One of his famous lines was “I am not a crook.” Many felt Nixon lied all of the time to everyone with which he came into contact.
Ronald Regan had a propensity to make things up. Does this sound familiar?
- That Regan was the most popular president since FDR. His approval rating for his entire presidency was lower than Kennedy’s, Eisenhower’s, and even Johnson’s.
- “Trees cause more pollution than automobiles do and sulphur dioxide emitted from Mount St. Helen was greater than that emitted by cars over a 10-year period. (In one day, cars emit 40 times what Mount St. Helen released in a day, even at its peak activity.)
- Praised P.W. Botha’s apartheid regime for eliminating segregation.
- That he knew nothing about the Iran-Contra scandal of selling weapons to Iran to then fund the Contras.
- That he had witnessed the liberation of Auschwitz.
Bill Clinton will be forever remembered for turning duplicity and hairsplitting into performance art. (“I did not have sexual relations with that woman”) But then, that was about sex. It turned out to be a course in when lies are not lies and when sex is not sex and when lying about sex is neither sex nor lying.
Now we have Donald Trump who is a chronic liar. He is reported to have lied more than 5,000 times since he took office. He is averaging 8 untruths per day and often he gets caught in his own lie and contradicts himself. As for lying about sex besides denying the women who have accused him of sexual assault, he now states it was not him on the bus when the Access Hollywood tape clearly sounds his voice talking to Billy Bush.
Social Fibs and Big Fat Lies
Lies come in all sizes, from big fat ones to little white ones. It seems that when telling a lie, men give too much detail and women too little.
In the area of social fibs there is procrastination:
- The check is in the mail.
- Your Grandmother died again.
- The dog ate your homework.
- You look great.
- That’s the best orgasm I’ve ever had.
- If I had known you were in town you could have stayed at my place.
According to a University of Cincinnati report on lying, the average adult tells two or three lies a day! What are your lies?
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