Wednesday, 17 June 2009

Types of lies

After this weeks ever enlightening edition of PMQ's, I looked up the word lie on wikipedia. Here's what I found. The various types of lies include the following:

Bold-faced lie
A bold-faced (often also referred to as bare-faced or bald-faced, although all three have slightly different meanings) lie is one which is told when it is obvious to all concerned that it is a lie. For example, a child who has chocolate all around his mouth and denies that he has eaten any chocolate has told a bold-faced lie. Check
Lying by omission
One lies by omission by omitting an important fact, deliberately leaving another person with a misconception. Lying by omission includes failures to correct pre-existing misconceptions. If a wife asks her husband if he's at a bar, the husband may tell his wife he is at a store, which is true, but lie by omitting the fact that he also visited a bar. Check
White lie
A white lie would cause only relatively minor discord if it were uncovered, and typically offers some benefit to the hearer. White lies are often used to avoid offense, such as complimenting something one finds unattractive. In this case, the lie is told to avoid the harmful realistic implications of the truth. As a concept, it is largely defined by local custom and cannot be clearly separated from other lies with any authority. Chortle!
Noble Lie
Emergency lie
An emergency lie is a strategic lie told when the truth may not be told because, for example, harm to a third party would result. For example, a neighbor might lie to an enraged wife about the whereabouts of her unfaithful husband, because said wife might reasonably be expected to inflict physical injury should she encounter her husband in person. Alternatively, an emergency lie could denote a (temporary) lie told to a second person because of the presence of a third. Technically, the only person he's trying to save is himself
Perjury is the act of lying or making verifiably false statements on a material matter under oath or affirmation in a court of law, or in any of various sworn statements in writing. Perjury is a crime, because the witness has sworn to tell the truth and, for the credibility of the court to remain intact, witness testimony must be relied on as truthful. Since the house of commons is the highest court in the land I suppose it technically counts as perjury, certainly as misleading the house of commons which is a serious enough offence in itself.
To bluff is to pretend to have a capability or intention which one does not actually possess. Bluffing is an act of deception which is rarely seen as immoral, because it takes place in the context of a game where this kind of deception is consented to in advance by the players. For instance, a gambler who deceives other players into thinking he has different cards to those which he really holds or an athlete who indicates he will move left and then actually dodges right is not considered to be lying. In these situations, deception is acceptable and is commonly expected as a tactic.Check. And the country has called it.
A misleading statement is one where there is no outright lie, but still retains the purpose of getting someone to believe in an untruth. "Dissembling" likewise implies presenting facts in a way that is literally true, but intentionally misleading.A big resounding CHECK!
An exaggeration (see also hyperbole) occurs when the most fundamental aspects of a statement are true, but only to a certain degree. It is also seen as "stretching the truth" or making something appear more powerful, meaningful, or real than it actually is.Check. He lies about spending like other men lie about the size of their penis...'My growth projections are bigger than yours, etc.
Contextual lies
Puffery is an exaggerated claim typically found in advertising and publicity announcements, such as "the highest quality at the lowest price," or "always votes in the best interest of all the people," or "even a jeweler cannot tell it from a genuine diamond." Check

As we can see, Gordon has, and I'm speaking statistically here, committed approxiimately 83% of these lies in his responses to Cameron. Is that the sort of Prime Minister we want running our country. He'll have a nose like this if he carries on. The public has seen through it and us bloggers aren't going to go away. If it's going to be a choice between 'Mr 10%' and Walter Mitty. I'll take honest, upfront public sector restraint every time.