Know Your Lie: Identifying Various Types of Lies and Their Uses

The purpose of this list is to provide a brief outline of the popular modes of lying.

A “barefaced lie” is usually blatantly obvious to all hearing it, which might be delivered by an individual(s) in a serious manner that might make the information seem factual.

i.e.  With a straight face, the car dealer claimed that 2018 Rolls Royce Wraith gets good mileage for a midsize vehicle in the U.S. 

“Big lies” are when an individual(s) presents information in a way that makes it appear believable, but preexisting information or common sense contradicts it. Depending on the scale of the big lie, individuals might believe it since they cannot believe anyone going through the trouble of making up such a grandiose lie.

i.e.  Leading up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq that started the Iraq War, The Bush Administration and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair claimed that they wanted to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction.

“Disinformation” refers to an individual(s) intentionally distributing false or misleading information with the purpose to deceive specific audiences to produce an intended result that aligns with their agenda or an agenda they would like to see achieved. 

i.e. In 1964, the Czechoslovak secret service claimed to have found four chests beneath Černé jezero, a lake in the Šumava bordering West Germany, containing Nazi-era intelligence documents, which turned out to be forgeries. The purpose of the forgeries was aimed at discrediting politicians in the West by revealing the names of Nazi informants that were still being used as spies in Eastern Europe as well as in pressuring the West to extend the statute of limitations in the persecution of war criminals. 

An individual(s) might make a statement(s) that “exaggerates” on some of the claims or evidence provided in it while maintaining the accuracy of the underlying premise(s).

i.e. When we started dating, she said that she never talks to her ex-husband, but he's been calling and talking to her all day long every day since she moved into my apartment. 

“Fake news” refers to “yellow journalism” and propaganda which aims at misrepresenting information in an attempt to mislead or deceive audiences into believing something that is false, which could be in terms of content or context. Fake news might be presented as satire or as a parody for laughs, to accentuate an idea, or provide insight on a particular individual(s) or situation(s) (i.e. The Onion).

i.e.  The Russian Government dispersed disinformation through various networks such as RT in the form of a counter-narrative after the Ukrainian rebels (backed by the Russians) shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in 2014. 

A “half-truth” is a statement that contains some truth but could use grammar, punctuation, or consist of double-meaning with the purpose to mislead or deceive in order to blame or misdirect attention.

i.e. Carol cannot be trusted with holding the money for our club. I once saw her spend all of her money at the grocery store.  

The idea of an “honest lie” is not a lie in the sense the individual(s) making a statement that inaccurately describes an event or situation does not do so with the intent to deceive audiences. 

i.e. When Bill got his Bugle Boy parachute pants out of the closet after 30 years and tried them on, he asked his wife how he looked. She smiled, and said, "They fit you well."

A “jocose lie” usually uses humor, such as in teasing or irony, with the idea that all present are supposed to understand it.

i.e. Robert told me that there were models in bikinis in the company's parking lot today filming a commercial. When I went out to look, it was just my wife waiting to pick me up from work. 

i.e. Hitler did nothing wrong (in meme culture).

“Lie-to-children” refers to presenting complex ideas in a simplified way in order to teach children or individuals less familiar with the ideas. 

i.e. In middle school, my science teacher used the Bohr model to explain the composition of an atom.  

An individual(s) that leaves out particular facts or details in order to advance a misconception is known to be “lying by omission.”

i.e. At a press conference in 1998, then U.S. President Bill Clinton denied having sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky, stating, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman."

“Minimi(s)zation” refers to downplaying or making light the importance of an event or emotion in a response to stave off feelings of guilt.

i.e. Please donate to help keep my YouTube channel up and running so that we can keep fighting the evils of mainstream media together. I don't do this for the money or for personal gain. I do this for you, my listeners, and the future of our great democracy (i.e. Minimi(s)zation used as manipulative abuse).

i.e. After Jerry's engine caught on fire and blew up while we were driving down the road, he just pulled over and said, "Probably only worn gasket. Easy enough to fix." 

A “noble lie,” or strategic untruth, can be used to benefit the liar as well as maintain an established order within a society that benefits all citizens. 

i.e. During his presidency, Barrack Obama criticized regular Americans not being able to speak a foreign language, yet he could not speak one himself.

A “polite lie” is a culturally situated practice of lying in which all participants understand it to be untrue, but nonetheless go along with it as a form of etiquette.

i.e. Since our children attend the same elementary school, we invited the Bennet's and their son, David, to Jan's fifth birthday party this Saturday. They said that they could not make it because their youngest son will be getting braces that day. We figured that they probably didn't want to come for some other reason, though.

“Weasel words” are words or phrases used to give the impression that an individual(s) is/are delivering an important statement or claim when in reality they are purposefully being ambiguous in order to disavow them at a future date if needed. Examples include numerical vagueness (quantifiers) – “some,” “experts,” or “many;” use of a passive voice to establish authority, the most popular being “It is said…;” and adverbs, such as “probably”). Non sequiturs (invalid arguments), vague euphemisms (more “polite” words used in place of others in order to downplay taboo subjects in everyday conversations), as well as the strategic use of qualifiers (adjectives), the strategic use of “subjunctive mood” when speaking in order to stress an individual’s(s) attitude in what they are saying – “I think that you should try being a conservative/liberal;” and “glittery generalizations,” which are words or phrases that are vague but nonetheless appeal to emotion, such as “democracy,” “independence,” or “nationalism.”

References

AllCott, Hunt, and Matthew Gentzkow. (2017). “Social Media and Fake News in the 2016 Election.” Stanford University. https://web.stanford.edu/~gentzkow/research/fakenews.pdf

Allen, R.E. (2006). Plato: The Republic. New Haven: Yale University Press.

“Butler Lie Term Coined at Cornell University.” (2010). News.cornell.edu. http://news.cornell.edu/stories/Dec10/WhiteLiesTech.html  

Chisholm, R.M., Feehan, T.D. (1977). “The Intent to Deceive.” Journal of Philosophy. 74(3): pp. 143–59. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2025605?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents  

Dictionary.com (online). http://www.dictionary.com/

Dita Asiedu. (8 June 2007). “Details of Czechoslovakia’s biggest disinformation operation published on web.” Radio Prague. http://www.radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/details-of-czechoslovakias-biggest-disinformation-operation-published-on-web

Ericsson, Stephanie (2010). Patterns for College Writing (11th ed.). Bedford-St. Martin’s, p. 487.

Fallis, Don (2009). “What is Lying?” Journal of Philosophy. 106 (1): pp. 29–56. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1601034 

Freitas-Magalhães, A. (2013). The Face of Lies. Porto: FEELab Science Books.

Guerrero, L., Anderson, P., Afifi, W. (2007). Close Encounters: Communication in Relationships (2nd ed.). Los Angeles: Sage Publications.

“Half-truth.” Merriam-Webster.com (online). https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/half-truth

Jason, Gary (1988). “Hedging as a Fallacy of Language.” Informal Logic, X.3, Fall 1988. https://ojs.uwindsor.ca/ojs/leddy/index.php/informal_logic/article/view/2649/2090

“Lie.” Oxford Dictionary (online). https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/lie

Macfarquhar, Neil (August 28, 2016). “A Powerful Russian Weapon: The Spread of False Stories.” The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/29/world/europe/russia-sweden-disinformation.html

Sawyer, Andy (2000). “Narrativium and Lies-to-Children: ‘Palatable Instruction in ‘The Science of Discworld.’” Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies (HJEAS). Centre for Arts, Humanities and Sciences (CAHS), acting on behalf of the University of Debrecen CAHS. 6 (1): pp. 155–78. https://www.worldcat.org/title/hjeas-hungarian-journal-of-english-and-american-studies/oclc/836822692

The New York Times. September 2, 1916, p. 4. “Origin of ‘Weasel Words’; Roosevelt Says He Got the Expression from Bill Sewall's Brother.” http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F01E1D61E3FE233A25751C0A96F9C946796D6CF&legacy=true