Are you a better liar than that?

[cimorene]

It's been overcast for hours now in that looming, swirly grey, ugly way that halfway puts you to sleep and halfway gives you some kind of freaky psychic-feeling headache. GO AWAY, stupid weather.

Okay, so you know in the movies, when people are suddenly ambushed by a desire to lie or misdirect - ie they haven't had time to anticipate, plan, and prepare what to say (we'll leave those cases out) - and they flub it, like dropping a ball. For example:

A: The rumour is that you quit because you were having an affair with the boss.
B: [Blank, shocked look for a beat] [Awkward and unconvincing chuckle]

You know, they... betray surprise, flounder and don't come up with a prevarication on time, and then utter something unconvincing. Now, it's true that some people do this in reality. I mean, I've seen it happen, with exactly the same train of thought ("Uh-oh, gotta lie - she's going to act as if the idea had never occurred to her - what is she - now it's completely awkward - nobody would believe her NOW. The fool!"), but most frequently with, you know, children. It could just be that people don't lie very often, but I tend to assume that people are telling tiny to medium-sized lies around us all the time and they usually do it at least passably well. The sort of fiasco you see in awkward social situations in the movies seems like an incredibly rare occurrence, to me, whose frequency is overrepresented on film (not, mind you, that I don't see why it might be. Dramatic tension, etc).

[Poll #1172202]

Comments

[revulo.livejournal.com]

I am ashamed to admit that there are days when I'm only concentrating on emergency lies. Just in case. :(

[kessie.livejournal.com]

I lie or misdirect about as convincingly as an ice-cream trying not to melt in sunlight.

[elfiepike.livejournal.com]

i answered the second choice--but there have been one or two situations where i was definitely in the third group. i don't lie very often. (this is only mildly related, but sometimes, around certain people, even responding to a generic comment is difficult and makes me flustered and feel inept.)

[snacky]

I'm actually quite good at it, but I've seen people do horribly. One of my best friends lies all the time (for no good reason!) and thanks to her, I've gotten really good at spotting when people are telling lies, even if they're doing it well.

[ukcalico.livejournal.com]

The majority of the time I'm either not lying or all ready with a prepared response.

HOWEVER.

Every now and then, one of Nick's friends will say something about slash. And I will invariably freeze and then go AHAHAHA WHAT? ER, LOOK OVER THERE! *even though* I know that for them to ask it means they must have a suspicion/have heard rumours/been told about it when we were all drunk around a bonfire sometime/can read minds, and *even though* I know they're probably very well-meaning and just curious. I just. My coping skills, they are paper-thin on this one issue. *g*

[wax-jism.livejournal.com]

It's not that I can't think of a lie, it's just that I freeze because I don't... I don't know, want to lie? I often can't make myself tell direct, bald-faced lies. So if I get blindsided with a direct questions, that awkward thing happens because I can't make myself tell the lie.

[jain]

Yes, this. I can lie when I need to, but I also need to be able to work out the answer so that it's less a lie than it is not-the-whole truth. When people throw questions at me that I'm unprepared for, I often fumble because I can't complete that process quickly enough.