white lies

I can’t think of any white lies I’ve told (preferring callously humerous honesty), but I’ve seen them used around me quite a bit, especially in regards to “how much did it cost to get fixed” type questions.

I plead the 5th. I also plead for mercy.

Wait a minute, I don’t think that’s a lie at all, that’s an omission. The statement itself is truthful, unless you and whoever you’re talking to have an agreed-upon language of what staying after school means, for instance…

I think the only response to that question that makes everyone a winner is suicide.

She will, if you don’t.

I feel like Commander Data when he finally gets the joke seven years later. Were you telling a white lie?

I could tell you but you’d never be sure if I was being truthful or sarcastic. :wink:

I was thinking about sarcasm when I posted that. Sarcasm is often saying the opposite (sarcastically). Which sort of makes it a lie. But my theory is that it’s NOT a lie, because you intent for the listener to detect the sarcasm, thus disarming the “lie”. It’s like saying, “Here is a lie: uni57 loves Windows.” The entire statement is NOT a lie. So, the next time Windows does something stupid and I say “I just LOVE Windows!” – the context, thus the sarcasm, is obvious. The statement is implicitly tagged as an untruth. No lie actually took place.

So… you were either telling a white lie (not intended to be revealed as an untruth) or you were being sarcastic (intending the untruth to be obvious). You can’t be doing both. And since the sarcasm thread is down the hall, I’m going with white lie.

I have to boost Billy’s ego so he’ll feel compelled to buy me a root beer next time we meet. That’s my motivation for participating in his threads.

When someone says something meant to be funny but it’s barely amusing, I force a laugh and then say “that’s funny.”

When we talk about “root beer” but really mean Guiness, is that a white lie?

No lies from me. Root beer is a great drink for family events like unicycling conventions. Guinness is a great drink for adult time away from the kids. Take your pick.

I hear they have some good root beer in NY. You should be quite the root beer connoisseur.

Last summer I was eating some really nice organic strawberries at the office. I gave some to my boss and he really liked them. I had strawberries today and I thought, “maybe I should share some with my boss… I know how much he likes strawberries.”

But maybe he was just being polite last time. I now officially don’t like white lies. Can we live without white lies? Can we just omit the truth (say nothing or as little as possible) rather than tell a white lie? I don’t know.

I loved it and drank a lot more when I was younger. Do you have any thoughts about BIRCHBEER. According to Wikipedia, Birch Beer is most commonly found in the northeast United States (that’s me!!), and Newfoundland in Canada.

It’s a carbonated soft drink made from herbal extracts, usually from birch bark. It has a taste similar to yet distinct from root beer, sweeter with a slightly minty and sharper flavor. Various types of birch beer are available, disinguished by color. The color depends on the species of birch tree from which the sap is extracted (though enhancements via artifical coloring are not uncommon). Popular colors include brown, red, and white, though others are possible. After the sap is collected, it is distilled to make birch oil. The oil is added to the carbonated drink to give it the distinctive flavor. “Black birch” is the most common source of extract. You can break off a small twig and suck the end of it and taste the unusual flavor.

Let’s have a “blind” birch beer and root beer tasting!!

I don’t like that I do it; it just slips out. How would you respond to someone who is your friend, you don’t want to cause hurt feelings, and they say something you know they’re expecting you to laugh at?

I have never had birch beer. As you say, it’s a northeast thing. I haven’t seen it locally. But next time I’m at one of the local markets that carries a bunch of different sodas I’ll look for a birch beer.

C’mon, get back on topic. We were talking about building inspectors, weren’t we?

White lies are like the emoticons of everyday conversation.
I’ve developed the unfortunate habit of straighfaced rudeness.
“That’s not funny” is a debilitatingly easy way of dealing with that situation.
It’s a bit more of a hassle if it’s your boss telling the joke.

My other nod to the dark-side of while lies is to laugh at jokes told by public speakers.
Just building up some laughter karma.

White lies are like the emoticons of everyday conversation.
I’ve developed the unfortunate habit of straighfaced rudeness.
“That’s not funny” is a debilitatingly easy way of dealing with that situation.
It’s a bit more of a hassle if it’s your boss telling the joke.

My other nod to the dark-side of while lies is to laugh at jokes told by public speakers.
Just building up some laughter karma.

This statement is false.