Michael Scorefan, thanks for your input! I think you nailed what I was getting at with my inquiry. All but a couple of the liars I’ve known personally over the years were in the first category you named. They were mostly harmless, but their chronic lying was such an annoyance and generally left them with very few friends. Your second category is fitting as well and they tend to be more toxic.
Rexor, thanks for your input as well! I think most all of us can relate to your soda experience.
A close family member of mine is a pathological liar / fantasist. Unfortunately for them, my memory is better than theirs and the fabrication is usually obvious.
...They were mostly harmless, but their chronic lying was such an annoyance and generally left them with very few friends.
Lol, always telling the truth wont earn you alot of friends either. It's more a matter of moderation, or how you dress up whatever you say, lies or truth. Not including crazy liars like Jehannum's family member.
The big problem with liars, chronic or not, is when they spread lies about you, effecting your reputation and trustworthiness at work or among others.
I personally dismiss anyone who claims they are 100% truthful. They're not to be trusted, they start the wars, they get folk killed. Besides, nothing in space/time is entirely as we think it is.
If I answer a question incorrectly, am I lying?
If I answer a question with an undisclosed guess - a guess that turns out to be inaccurate, have I told a lie?
If I'm taking an eye test, and I am asked "What is the last line, "C G P E F?" Suppose, I reply "C G D E F." Did I lie?
Absolutely not. There is a difference between lying and incorrect/mistaken.
Probably should have let this thread “lie” but interestingly enough, a fellow who was once a friend of mine just passed away in a nursing home at the ripe old age of 56.
He was one of those chronic liars, mostly a bull*****er. I liked him as a person, years ago when I was friends with him but you just couldn’t believe much of anything he said. His last 5 or so years were bad. He really went off the rails with drug use, financial ruin, he beat his (ex)wife a time or two, spent time in jail.
I wonder if his chronic lying was a symptom of something deeper that eventually led to his destructive and self-destructive behavior.
I’m torn as to whether to attend his graveside service. I love his family and would like to show respect, but he was not a good person when he died.
To be honest, my uncle is a great guy, but he's the biggest liar I know. But it does make for some interesting stories, my favorite being that his grandson will be an astronaut.
I once worked at a newspaper with an editor who was known as one of the best editors and civic leaders in the city and state (I'm not going to say where because one of FSM's members lives in the same city). She also was a pathological liar and literally is the only person I've ever met who, if she was talking, she was lying. She was also the most hate-filled and ruthlessly ambitious person I've ever met. Her professional and civic success was due to her portraying herself as the second coming of Mother Teresa and that she had dedicated her life to helping the downtrodden. She loved to talk about war and killing people. In a staff meeting, she bragged about all the guns she had and was saving up for a .44 Magnum for protection when she went out of town. My editor asked her why not get a can of Mace. She angrily replied, "I want to do more than just stop them!" Every time I hear about the latest shooting spree, I check to see if it's her. So far, Mother Teresa II hasn't killed anyone.
She left the newspaper to become head of a victims group. That's like Bill Clinton being head of the YWCA. As an editor, she was always trying to step on people and wanted a promotion for a higher position so she could step on even more people. A bunch of innocent people had their careers ruined by this editor. I think it's not a coincidence that she hated her family intensely and called them a bunch of crazy rednecks (one of brothers was arrested for threatening to shoot his girlfriend because she didn't want to see him anymore)----the apple doesn't fall far from the tree----including rotten apples.
but interestingly enough, a fellow who was once a friend of mine just passed away in a nursing home at the ripe old age of 56.
