Episode LXVIII
LIARS ARE EVERYWHERE...
Sunday Mirror, Thursday, 23rd November 2006, 07:36
A survey of 4,000 adults found that two thirds of Brits agree that women are better at telling fibs, and showed that people lie to their other halves more than anyone else.
Our colleagues and employers are next in the list of people that we are the most likely to tell porkies to.
Popular lies include pretending to be ill, used by 30 per cent of people, as well as 26 per cent not telling the truth when they talk about how much debt they are in.
A shameless 18 per cent have lied when denying having an affair, ten per cent have 'embellished the truth' on their CV, and six per cent tell fibs after bumping into another car.
But a whopping 61 per cent say that they do not feel guilty about lying.
The poll, conducted by Mr Porky pork scratchings, also tried to find Britain's most common lies. The most common fib was 'Nothing's wrong, I'm fine', when in fact we have the weight of the world on our shoulders.
'Nice to see you' was the second most common untruth, followed by 'Sorry I missed your call' and 'I haven't got any cash on me, I'm afraid.'
The top five favourite lies was topped off with the old favourite, 'I'll give you a ring.'
Modern technology seems to have given us a whole new range of things to tell porkies about, with 'My battery died' making the fourteenth most popular lie, 'What text?' coming fifteenth, and 'Our server was down' coming in at number 31 in the top 50 lies.
'You look lovely' was in 21st place, and more alarmingly 'I love you' was the 29th most common lie.
The old classic 'No, your bum doesn't look big in that' came in at number 18.
Sarah Nunn, from Mr Porky manufacturer Red Mill Snack Foods, said: "Our motto is 'Great Taste, No Porkies' and despite what our survey suggests we really do mean it. Fortunately the porkies we unearthed are only white lies and nothing too serious.
"Brits are renowned for keeping a stiff upper lip and most of these lies occur when we're too polite to say the truth. Everybody always says they're fine when in fact they're having an awful day."
Top ten most common lies:
1- Nothing's wrong I'm fine
2- Nice to see you
3- Sorry I missed your call
4- I haven't got any cash on me I'm afraid
5- I'll give you a ring
6- I don't have any spare change
7- No I'm afraid I haven't got a spare five minutes
8- I'll give up tomorrow
9- It's just what I've always wanted
10- We'll have to meet up soon
Do you lie?
