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Liar liar pants on fire

(33 Posts)
jinglbellsfrocks Wed 19-Feb-14 13:03:57

I am terrified of telling a lie. I drummed it himself when I was little that something really bad would happen to me if I did, and I can't shake that off now! hmm

I'm very good at evasion.

merlotgran Wed 19-Feb-14 12:55:46

My mother would embroider stories so much they eventually turned into whopping great lies. We were so used to it we'd look at each other and make 'scrubbing your back with a loofah,' actions.

LOOFA was our acronym for Load Of Old Fanny Adams. grin

Galen Wed 19-Feb-14 12:05:55

Reminds me! One of my kids borrowed my Grey's and I haven't seen it since!hmm

annodomini Wed 19-Feb-14 11:58:08

I know someone who is not just a liar but a fantasist who I am sure believes her own stories. Both of her children have grown up knowing they have to take everything with a huge pinch of salt. She would have had us believe that she had been accepted to do a degree in medicine even to the extent of buying a copy of Grey's Anatomy - she did, I believe, have a few O-levels once upon a time. Goodness knows what she was really doing!

gillybob Wed 19-Feb-14 11:42:32

I know it was ages ago but there was a similar thread to this a while back. I don't know if anyone can remember the story I told about a guy who used to work with us who told a whopping great lie about diving off a cliff to save someones life. His lie got bigger and bigger and he couldn't see how stupid he looked. We still laugh about it today.

gillybob Wed 19-Feb-14 11:40:26

I think there are different kinds of lies Kiora. There are the kind we tell to protect someone elses feelings (I do this a fair bit) and the downright whoppers told by some people to "big themselves up" or cover up some wrong doing.

I take a kind of sick pleasure in knowing that someone knows, that I know that they are lying. Its better than saying it outloud ! shock

JessM Wed 19-Feb-14 11:39:33

There are some people who have a compulsion to lie. I had a neighbour once like that who used to tell all kinds of tall stories. It was a long time ago but the one that stuck in my mind is that she was pregnant and announced the baby had died in the womb. A few weeks later a healthy baby arrived.

I wonder if it is a kind of addiction a bit like shoplifting {I can get away with it!! again!! Clever old me and stupid them!!}

I think stephen fry wrote an autobiographical book about compulsive dishonesty when he was a teenager ... Aah. Here it is:

www.amazon.co.uk/Liar-Stephen-Fry-ebook/dp/B004071TAY/ref=la_B000APAGVS_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1392809741&sr=1-9

Kiora Wed 19-Feb-14 11:31:40

My daughter is staying with me over the half termsmile and we had a conversation yesterday about lying. We have two relatives who routinely tell quite big lies. We think it's attention seeking, trying to deflect blame for bad behaviour. Some of the lies are huge and yet none of the family challenge these two. Is it because we are embarrassed or we don't want to embarrass them? My husband who was listening tells me men do this a lot but not about such serious issues. Mostly about how much they earn/ success with women that kind of stuff. We agreed that we often embellish stories mostly to make them more interesting. My daughter thinks harmless flirting on a night out is very different from down right lies. So why do we let the big lies go unchallenged are we both cowards by not confronting the lies ?