«I’m not upset that you lied to me, I’m upset that from now on I can not believe you.»
Friedrich Nietzsche
Nietzsche said: «I’m not upset that you lied to me, I was upset that now I can not trust you.» People lied for centuries. So it turns out that we can not live in a society in which there is only the naked truth. Remember the movie «Liar Liar» with Jim Carrey in the title role? Incorrigible liar Fletcher Reed had to tell the truth all the people around, because to make a wish, his son asked Dad to stop lying. I think you remember what ended this picture? Language Reed became his enemy, and day without different kinds of lies has turned into a nightmare.
The lie is different, as well as the reasons why we were lying to people. Let’s get acquainted with the topic, based on the vocabulary of the English language.
He lied to me
The most important word that refers to a lie in the English language, the word is a lie (an intentionally false statement). The verb «to lie» looks the same as the verb «to lie» — to lie. Please do not confuse them. It required us to the verb is correct (lie — lied — lied), and the verb that describes the horizontal position — the wrong (lie — lay — lain). It is very commonly used phrase is the following: to tell a lie / tell lies. Therefore, our proposal to the subtitle could look like this: He told lies (a lie) to me. Lies can be blatant (overt, blatant) and downright (blatant, obvious).
Sometimes sales representatives tell blatant lies about the benefits in their companies. — Sometimes sales consultants openly lied about the privileges of their companies.
His story was a downright lie, and you knew that! — His story was blatant lies, and you knew about it!
The word lie is not only a noun, describing the deception or false. We have also such concepts:
- Invention — fiction, fiction.
All that gossip about Andy was just pure invention. — All these rumors about Andy was pure invention.
- Fib (informal) — a fiction, a lie, deceit, do no harm.
We could just tell fibs and say we are at work now. — We could write that we are at work right now.
- White lie — holy lie, a white lie, white lies, so as not to upset the human truth.
An example of a white lie is when you tell your friend that his cake is delicious even when it tastes bland. — Example of white lies: you tell your friends that the cake was delicious, even when it is not.
- Half-truth — a half-truth, half-truth.
It was a bad idea to tell her half-truth. — It was a bad idea to tell her the truth incomplete.
- Tissue of lies / pack of lies — web of lies.
The whole book is a tissue of lies. — The whole book contains an absolute lie.
- Misinformation — disinformation, false, misleading.
There’s a lot of misinformation about this plane crash that needs to be checked. — Many of the false information about the crash to check.
- Falsehood (formal) — lie, lie, deception, falsification.
He fails to distinguish truth and falsehood. — He can not distinguish between truth and falsehood.
- Dissimulation — deceit, hypocrisy, disguise intentions, emotions, character traits.
She was incapable of dissimulation. — She could not pretend.
- Mendacity (formal) — falsehood, lies, hypocrisy.
The ex-president was accused of mendacity. — The former president was accused of lying.
- Cock-and-bull story (informal) — fetched story, fiction, deceive.
Nobody will believe this cock-and-bull story about his trip to this island. — No one will believe in this fiction of his journey to the island.
- Tall tale — a fable, fiction, fiction.
After lunch he told me a tall tale about his new girlfriend. — After lunch, he told me stories about his new girlfriend.
- Whopper (slang) — a blatant lie, a monstrous lie.
What annoys me most is that he is constantly telling whoppers. — What annoys me most is the fact that it is constantly brazenly lying.
Verbs meaning «to lie»
If there is a noun, it means that there are verbs that describe the process of creating a lie: to invent a story, to fib, to fabricate a story, to concoct a story, to spin a story, to falsify, to dissimulate. In conjunction with the verb to tell we use: tell an untruth, tell a falsehood, tell a white lie, tell a fib.
Among the least popular verbs would like to highlight:
- To mislead — misleading mislead, deceive, hang noodles on the ears.
You must not mislead your parents giving them false information about your success at school. — You should not deceive their parents by providing them with incorrect information about the success of the school.
- To delude — deliberately mislead into believing in something, be deceived.
I think she is deluding herself if she really believes that he will marry her. — I think she is deceived, if you really believe that he would marry her.
- To cheat — to behave dishonestly to get what you want: to cheat, deceive, diddle.
Have you ever cheated in an exam? — Have you ever cheated on the exam?
English idioms of lies
Of course, we can tell that a person is cheating, and using idiomatic expressions.
- Stretch the truth — the truth to embellish, exaggerate, lie.
- Throw off the scent / put on the wrong track — to put on the wrong track.
- Pull the wool over someone’s eyes — goggles rub, fooling, hang noodles on the ears, confusing.
- They lie through one’s teeth — blatantly lie.
- It is economical with the truth — lie, keep back, to speak half-truths.
- Lead astray — disorienting, mislead, misleading.
- Feed somebody a line — hang noodles on ears to fill.
If that amount is not enough, you can find a list of 75 words.
People have «amazing» ability to deceive each other (to deceive each other). The question is, why do we do it — is still open. When we try to deliberately conceal the truth, especially if you’re trying to get out of this benefit, we deliberately misleading (to deceit — deception). In this case, the fraud may call deceitful — deceitful, treacherous, traitorous, disingenuous. Slightly less sharp synonymous deceitful is the formal adjective disingenuous (insincere, dishonest, dishonest). Disingenuous person can tell you half-truths (half-truth). Here are 25 interesting adjectives.
Without a white lie to us would have been difficult to maintain a good relationship with people. With it, we try to be polite, we do not seek to upset the person when the truth is not very pleasant. Do not believe me? Watch this video.
What time? Why do people lie?
Lying has several objectives. We can lie, when we want to please or please someone (to please). For example, if a friend asks how she looks, people sometimes keep back the truth. People come up with excuses when you do not want to do some favor (to avoid favors), which they are asked.
Those who value their time, lie: that they are very busy to avoid long conversations (to avoid long conversations). Lies — a tool that helps us to brag about their successes and achievements (to boast). This lie is relatively harmless, but it allows us to present a somewhat different light. We have time to avoid penalties (to evade punishment). We resort to lies, when we want to influence the people and convince them of something (to influence and convince).
Of course, this is not all the objectives that lie at the basis of lies. Someone who likes chance to embellish something, and someone creates a fictional life. According to a study conducted by the University of Massachusetts in 2002, 60% of people certainly sovrut at least once during the 10-minute conversation. And according to The Day America Told the Truth, 86% of people regularly lie to parents, 75% — to friends, 73% — siblings, 69% — spouses. There is a kind of top phrases that use men and women to «tell a lie.»
| Men’s top 10 lies | Women’s top 10 lies |
|---|---|
| 1. I did not have that much to drink. Not much I drank. |
1. Nothing’s wrong, I’m fine. Nothing happened. All right. |
| 2. Nothing’s wrong, I’m fine. Nothing happened. All right. |
2. I do not know where it is, I have not touched it. I do not know where it is. I did not touch. |
| 3. I had no signal. Nothing I did not wink. |
3. It was not that expensive. Not too expensive, it was worth it. |
| 4. It was not that expensive. Not too expensive, it was worth it. |
4. I did not have that much to drink. Not much I drank. |
| 5. I’m on my way. I’m already on my way. |
5. I’ve got a headache. I have a headache. |
| 6. I’m stuck in traffic. I was stuck in a traffic jam. |
6. It was in the sale. I bought it on sale. |
| 7. No, you do not look fat in that. No, you is not complete. |
7. I’m on my way. I’m already on my way. |
| 8. Sorry, I missed your call. I’m sorry I missed the call. |
8. Oh, I’ve had this for ages. I have this thing for a long time. |
| 9. You’ve lost weight. You lost weight. |
9. No, I did not throw it away. I do not throw it. |
| 10. It’s just what I’ve always wanted. This is what I always wanted. |
10. I am not mad at you. I’m not mad at you. |
Several interesting studies in this area, as well as the reasons for which we have the time, can be gleaned from the video «The future of lying».
And to complete this interesting topic on a beautiful note, I suggest you take the quiz «What kind of liar are you? «.
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