Before, during, and after the "Scooter" Libby trial, lying was much on the minds of press writers. Here at Language Log Plaza we've been mildly interested in the topic too -- see here, here, and here. Well, I guess I should say that I've been interested in it, since these links are all to my own posts. I suppose everyone tells a whopper once in a while but we have to be pretty careful about who we tell our lies to. Just in case you may be planning to tell a lie, the Washington Post here offers some helpful advice. Here's (more or less) the Post's sometimes light-hearted take on this, along with some telling bits of evidence.
A grand jury or the FBI: evidence -- the outcome of the "Scotter" Libby trial.
The Securities Exchange Commission: evidence -- the outcome of the Martha Stewart trial.
Oprah's talk show: evidence -- James Frey's confession about the lies he told in his autobiography. She got him to come clean. Avoid Oprah. She's tough.
The Internal Revenue Service: evidence -- the IRS says it catches 50% of liars. Unless you're a gambler, it's probably not a good idea to try it.
Readers of your résumé: evidence -- about half the writers include whoppers somewhere but, as the Post puts it, they're "just waiting to be truth-squaded."
New York Times editors: evidence -- the NY Times reporter, James Blair, who got caught making stuff up.
Your own children and spouse: evidence -- Santa Claus, sex, etc. The doghouse looms large here.
Yourself: (unless you can manage to believe your own lies, a dismal prospect at best)
The American people: evidence -- Bill Clinton's sex adventures, to which one might add many political campaingn promises as well as a lot of commercial advertisements.
Congress: evidence -- the tobacco companies that got away with a great deal despite possessing evidence that their product was harmful.
The United Nations: evidence -- well, this one is pretty obvious, isn't it?
Readers of some books: evidence --apparent falsification of references and facts (see here).
There seems to be a pattern here. To smaller audiences, such as individual government agencies, television talk show hosts, potential employers, editors, family members, and oneself, telling a lie is usually a very bad strategy. But on the grander scale of things, such as lying to entire countries, to Congress, to the United Nations, and to readers of best-seller books, lying must seem worth a try..... but one would certainly hope not.
Posted by Roger Shuy at March 8, 2007 12:10 PM