Are You A Good Liar?

[Prog Snob]

Most people aren't but I'm curious to see some of the answers here. Provide examples for further scrutinization.

[Adami]

No.













....did you buy it?

[Cool Chris]

I can be good when necessary, but would crack on a witness stand in about 9 seconds.

[pogoowner]

Horrendous.

[Prog Snob]

Hmmm....nobody yet.

[Crow]

If I told you, you wouldn't believe me.

[El Barto]

I'm pretty honest so I couldn't really judge my ability to lie. As a rule I'm not good at any sort of deception at all, though.

[TempusVox]

I think I'm pretty good at cards but beyond that probably not. I used to self report misdeeds in my youth.

[black_biff_stadler]

Yes but it goes to waste because I'm honest by default due to guilt complexes.

[Prog Snob]

I assume most people are bad at lying, not because they can't speak a lie, but because their conscience belies them and it eventually eats away at them. The trick to any lie, or con, is confidence and convincing them you believe every word you say with such conviction that they could never think for a moment that you were deceiving them.

If I told you, you wouldn't believe me.

You can't con a con man. Rule number 1.

[Tomislav95]

I think I'm pretty good acting, being sarcastic and so. But I rarely lie for real, and when I do it's harder to improvise than when just being sarcastic

[DragonAttack]

I love everything my wife cooks.

[Jester]

It really depends on the situation.  I really don't know if I'm a good liar for myself because the worst thing that can happen to you is getting away with something.  If you have any decency, it doesn't feel like getting away with it.  If anything, now that you got away with it, you have to live with it.  But now that time has passed since the transgression, coming clean just isn't the same thing.  In fact, coming clean once you "got away with it" now has zero nobility to it.  And it doesn't matter how small the transgression was.  Heck, I can recall hiding from a friend at age 7 because I didn't want to play with them that day.  They were quite annoying and I just wanted a break from them, but having my mom tell them I wasn't home when I was there felt wrong once it was in motion.  And the way things affect people, that person could be on a couch today talking about how he lost his confidence that day.  And if I ran into them today, would it be better to keep up the ruse because maybe the truth would be more painful?  So that really wouldn't make me a "good" liar, now would it?

But there is also the difference between lying for your benefit v. for the benefit of others.  Growing up with people that had their own issues, I'd find myself lying or "covering" for them.  It didn't have to be a lie.  It could just be acting obtuse or lie by omission.

And finally, you have the flip side.  Being a bad truth teller.  There is somebody in my life that is borderline "losing it".  See.  I lied right there by adding the word "borderline".  A built-in protection method for people I care about.  Any way, they have become seriously paranoid now that they are in that horrible stage of life between sick and death.  And this person constantly accuses me of stealing their stuff or sabotaging them.  Really stupid things like they misplace a phone and are positive you either a) stole it or b) hiding it to screw with them.  This person thinks they are Perry Mason or Sherlock Holmes.  They can "read me like a book" and will bring up things from when I was 9 or 18 or 23 that they think I did, but did not, as evidence I've lied before and therefore am lying again.  So when they have some medical episode with their meds and decide I've stolen their phone (even though they just left it in the bathroom), they go berserk.  They will confront me and say "did you steal this?  I can tell when you are lying."  Now I know they are just in a "lost it" stage and I'm innocent.  But I also know they are going to find the tell that isn't there.  So I've tried monotone "No" and nice "No, but where did you have it last so I can help find it" to annoyed "No.  You know I didn't take the phone" to silence - refusing to answer.  They will find the tell that isn't there no matter how I tell the truth.  And now it has affected me with others where even telling the truth feels unnatural.

The only way to be a good liar is to not give an F about the person you are lying to.  Now I guess with a good liar, you can do that for everybody, which isn't really something to brag about.  But on the other end, I guess if you had a boss that asked people to work Saturday, the ones that lied about commitments got out of it, whereas you were truthful and got stuck (for example); you might eventually not have a problem with a convincing lie about some family commitment that doesn't exist.

The reality is that it isn't hard to be a good liar.  It is hard dealing with what comes after.

[Logain Ablar]

No, I'm not a good liar. I think I would rather make every excuse under the sun to get out of an awkward situation, rather than lie my way through it.

[Chino]

I'm an incredibly good liar.

[MirrorMask]

I would be a terrible liar in real life, ironically I have to be a liar in my job. I'm doing customer service so I have to convince the customers that sending back again their products to the repair line will make a difference... it doesn't, it's all luck of having a competent dude at the repair line 

[Dublagent66]

I'm an incredibly good liar.

Apparently not because I can tell that you're lying. 

[Stadler]

It's not a yes or no question.   It also depends on who you are lying to. 

It's no skill to tell your wife her ass doesn't look fat in those jeans, or to tell the security guard at the concert (who's making $6.50 an hour to see a band he wouldn't shit on and who is DYING TO BAKE AT BREAK!) that you "left your ticket with your girlfriend in the fourth row" (been there, done that, took the picture when I got there).

It's another skill entirely to lie in an interrogation room, where you are being played, and you are being monitored by at least three people VERY skilled at that task.

I'm a decent enough liar when I have to be, but a) I don't usually have to be, because I work at not putting myself in that position, and b) having been married to a woman who wouldn't know the truth if it was nibbling at her titty, I've made a conscious decision to live a much more authentic life, and while I am not 100% there yet, I just don't want the hassle and stress of keeping the lies straight. 

[El Barto]

It's not a yes or no question.   It also depends on who you are lying to. 

It's no skill to tell your wife her ass doesn't look fat in those jeans, or to tell the security guard at the concert (who's making $6.50 an hour to see a band he wouldn't shit on and who is DYING TO BAKE AT BREAK!) that you "left your ticket with your girlfriend in the fourth row" (been there, done that, took the picture when I got there).

It's another skill entirely to lie in an interrogation room, where you are being played, and you are being monitored by at least three people VERY skilled at that task.

I'm a decent enough liar when I have to be, but a) I don't usually have to be, because I work at not putting myself in that position, and b) having been married to a woman who wouldn't know the truth if it was nibbling at her titty, I've made a conscious decision to live a much more authentic life, and while I am not 100% there yet, I just don't want the hassle and stress of keeping the lies straight.

And therein lies the rub. It's easy to tell Detective Dickface you were shacked up at the time of the murder. As was suggested earlier, that's simply a matter of demonstrating confidence. But the more complex the story needs to be, the more you need rock-solid mental discipline that few possess. Dickface is going to ask about lots of random details and he's going to put them out of linear order. And he's going to repeat them, again out of order, time and time again. Unless you're Jason Bourne or very well prepared you're going tho have a bitch of a time remembering the answer to 17B when answering 12D potentially conflicts. "But wait, earlier you said you met her at the motel room. Now you're saying the two of you stopped for Taco Bell on the way there." Say hello to Bubba cause it's ass-raping time.

[splent]

Depends on what answer you're looking for

[Elite]

It's not a yes or no question.   It also depends on who you are lying to.

Exactly, but I think you should add to that that it's also important how harmful the lie is. It's easy to say that you were stuck in traffic, while in fact you left 10 minutes to late to be on time, for instance. It's also easy to blatantly lie about what you had for dinner the night before. It's indeed a whole other thing to lie time after time about something a lot worse.

[Dublagent66]

Good liar or bad.  Still a liar.   

[DebraKadabra]

Are we talking about white lies or the REALLY big lies?

[Hyperplex]

Lying can be a valuable skill. For instance, it's said one day Snow White chanced upon Pinocchio, promptly tackled him to the ground, sat on his face and screamed, "LIE TO ME!!!"

[Phoenix87x]

The world is full of liars and I am pretty decent at it. Keeps me safe

An example would be my job. Hospital pharmacies are basically House of Cards. The backstabbing, the politics, the lies. If you are some goodie too shoes, you will get eaten alive. In there, I have to be frank underwood, understanding everyone's personal bias and who hates who. So I just change my entire perspective like a chameleon to suit my needs. And it works marvelously.

And honestly, I don't condone the lying, but I approach life for the way it actually is, and this aint no fairy tale world.

[Dr. DTVT]

Most people aren't but I'm curious to see some of the answers here. Provide examples for further scrutinization.

Your sister was awesome last night.  I'll have to take a run at that again.




No...not very good.

[Prog Snob]

Most people aren't but I'm curious to see some of the answers here. Provide examples for further scrutinization.

Your sister was awesome last night.  I'll have to take a run at that again.




No...not very good.

 

Well, I don't have a sister, but if I did she'd probably be as awesome as I am, so that wouldn't be a total lie.

Are we talking about white lies or the REALLY big lies?

Really big lies. Ones that take time and talent.

It's not a yes or no question.   It also depends on who you are lying to. 

It's no skill to tell your wife her ass doesn't look fat in those jeans, or to tell the security guard at the concert (who's making $6.50 an hour to see a band he wouldn't shit on and who is DYING TO BAKE AT BREAK!) that you "left your ticket with your girlfriend in the fourth row" (been there, done that, took the picture when I got there).

It's another skill entirely to lie in an interrogation room, where you are being played, and you are being monitored by at least three people VERY skilled at that task.

I'm a decent enough liar when I have to be, but a) I don't usually have to be, because I work at not putting myself in that position, and b) having been married to a woman who wouldn't know the truth if it was nibbling at her titty, I've made a conscious decision to live a much more authentic life, and while I am not 100% there yet, I just don't want the hassle and stress of keeping the lies straight.

And therein lies the rub. It's easy to tell Detective Dickface you were shacked up at the time of the murder. As was suggested earlier, that's simply a matter of demonstrating confidence. But the more complex the story needs to be, the more you need rock-solid mental discipline that few possess. Dickface is going to ask about lots of random details and he's going to put them out of linear order. And he's going to repeat them, again out of order, time and time again. Unless you're Jason Bourne or very well prepared you're going tho have a bitch of a time remembering the answer to 17B when answering 12D potentially conflicts. "But wait, earlier you said you met her at the motel room. Now you're saying the two of you stopped for Taco Bell on the way there." Say hello to Bubba cause it's ass-raping time.

And that's exactly to what I am referring. I think anyone can pull off the little white lies - well most people. I'm talking about the grifter types that are so damn convincing you'd sell them your home to live in a cardboard box.

[lonestar]

I try not to lie these days, it's just too much shit to remember.

[Adami]

I don't lie, but I am very good at being deceptively honest when I need to be.

[CrimsonSunrise]

I'm an incredibly good liar.

Pffft.... Liar!!!   

[Prog Snob]

I think, in order to be an excellent liar, you need to understand human psychology. Like Stadler said, it depends on to whom you are lying. Being able to read people and predict their reactions are vitally important.

[Architeuthis]

The thing about lying is that you have to remember everything you said, then you have to make up more lies to cover up the the lies all ready said. A pretty pathetic situation to be in.

[Jester]

I don't lie, but I am very good at being deceptively honest when I need to be.

[Jester]

Strange that the focus is on the difficulty of maintaining the web of lies much more so than the conscience and guilt aspect of lying.

The thread has died down, so a possible different angle.  Have you regretted NOT lying?

[Prog Snob]

I've lied enough in my life to not be so concerned about that.