agoreira

At last a bit of sense has appeared in the thread! There's a huge difference in lying on a CV for personal gain, and telling the kids Santa left the pressies.

angiescarr

True. It has bitten me a couple of times. Like the time I got a police caution for tripping up a tiny thug with a window smashing habit. Even the police were hinting I should keep my mouth shut. But I said... "If he's got a bruise it was probably me". My neighbours at the time would have done the same thing but would have said " Nowt to do wi me!"
It bites me every time I declare my cash income. Given that everyone says I'm a fool.
I think... I must be a fool!

bil

It's generally easier to tell the truth. Lying becomes complicated, and you need a bloody good memory. The best way to deceive is to tell the truth in such a way that people won't believe it. Misdirection is also useful.

Too much truth, well that is just bloody stupid. A member of the family who shall remain nameless has the habit of saying too much, and is, on important occasions where only certain parts of the truth should be laid out, is told to be elsewhere on the day.

Duct tape, I find is too obvious.

A friend of mine who was a copper used to say that if all the villains who were jailed simply said 'no comment' to every question, the police would be lucky to jail 20 of them.

He also said there is a vast tranche of the population who will lie, when the truth would save them.

bil

Your husband needs to invest in duct tape.

bil

Absolutely. I think it is totally and utterly wrong for people to lie on their CVs.

They just shouldn't do it! That way when I lie, I'll have the field to myself.

HBG

Knowing when to lie is the big secret, and I don't know the answer. I agree that telling the truth is normally the best way, but there are a few occasions when it's harmful.

Pontificating on vast, worldwide events is pointless, such as our politicians saying that we have no boots on the ground in Libya. It's a lie.

Back on the smaller ground, I had one of those heart-stopping requests for help from one of my children recently. She's 40-years-old. I told her to lie. I might have been wrong and it kept me awake for a few nights. Either way, I was in a no-win situation. I will never know the truth.

Domino

nope, you should not tell this child lies, you know full well the subject of MP's was raised by the previous poster, why are you blaming me for something done by another child. this is just like being 6 all over again

i'm going to go home and cry and cry and cry until I am sick because you tell lies and don't love me anymore

HBG

I've just thought of a perfect example. Way back during a single spell, I answered an advert from a lady who described herself as beautiful and living in her own home in Romford.

When she answered the door of her rented flat above a joke shop, I couldn't help myself and burst out laughing. But she took it well and we went for a drink in a nearby pub.

We were still laughing when we returned to her flat. When I asked about a funny noise coming from the kitchen, she confessed that she kept a Doberman because she lived in a high crime area. I found out a few minutes later that the Doberman, who was several years old, had never been walked and did its toilet in the kitchen.

I stopped laughing and ran for it.

Lynn R

I'm certainly guilty of being "economical with the truth" if to be absolutely honest would be hurtful, eg if someone asks me straight out "how's your meal" at a dinner party, or "do you like my new hairstyle". I don't think I've ever lied outright on a CV or in a job interview, but of course everyone tries to show themselves in the best light and may embroider a little!

What does disgust me is how widespread dishonesty appears to be in society as a whole. When my house was burgled a couple of years ago, I was astonished how many people I would have thought were law-abiding said "and have you claimed for the Rolex/laptop/plasma TV?" (and they weren't joking, one woman in her '70s said "oh, you've got a lot to learn" when I said no, I certainly hadn't). And these are the same people who are the first to be critical of benefit cheats. I once worked for a firm of accountants and it was the same story there, all their clients were claiming allowances they shouldn't have been entitled to by saying, for example, that their wife worked for them when it was not true. They are just hypocrites and as bad as the benefit cheats, IMO. My parents brought me up to be scrupulously honest and if any of us ever found anything that didn't belong to us it went straight to the police station, or if we were given too much change in a shop we pointed it out. I still do.

Whatever happened to honesty being its own reward?

jackytoo

I agree with Lyn...there are lies and LIES. The first ones I would call kind lies. Real lies are for some sort of personal gain, money, prestige etc. I think we all know quite a few who have reinvented themselves in Spain. It is unusual to meet anyone who did an ordinary job such as working on an assembly line or such.

bil

Fascinating. It would never occur to me to do that. What kind of a sad little figure would you have to be to do that?

bil

Honesty is its own reward, because that's all you get. It's like 'The meek shall inherit the eart'. Yeah, right. In 3' x 6' plots, that is.

I would be more than happy to be perfectly honest in a world where everyone else is. On that day if I find a 50 euro note in the road, I'll hand it in. Prior to that very distant date, if I find it it's mine, y basta.

When the leaders of both political parties rush to pay back money they have fiddled from the state, which as said makes them no better than the meanest benefit thief, then I would find it pretty hard to criticise less eminent people who decide that what's sauce for the goose...

Domino

where is Lorna at Vicenza ??

- this is getting off the topic of telling lies to children

bil

Yes and no. One of the lies we were told as children was that we should be honest and follow the example of the great and the good, and we had held up before us the false idols of Church, Crown and State.

agoreira

You're too old fashioned, that's your problem! I'm the same! My father died when I was seven and my mother was left to bring up four of us, and we were skint. But like your parents, my mother's favourite line was "we may be poor, but we can be honest and well mannered, those things cost nothing. Didn't do any of us any harm, we all did OK, never been in trouble with the police. (Nowadays being poor seems to be an excuse for for being a criminal) I'd like to think that we have passed that on to our kids, they have never been in trouble either, both doing well and I'm sure they have gotten to where they are by not lying.