Saumon
Dallas
Sometimes I lie without obvious reason.
A taxi driver asked me: “Did Dallas win last night?”
I could have said: “I don’t know.” But I answered: “Yes.”
Although I had no idea if Dallas won or lost last night, I didn’t even know what sport he was speaking about. The baseball season is over, so probably football.
When it comes to other authors I’m more careful. During a festival in Durban in 1999 a Swiss author started a conversation about a French author who was extremely famous and important, almost as important as Proust.
I believe the author was named Jacques Saumon, or something like that, and I’m quite sure that the Swiss author was just testing me to see if I would say: “Oh, yes Jacques Saumon, of course, very important, very much so.” Which I didn’t but I came close – I mean I felt the desire to say: “Yes, of course Saumon, never read him, but heard about him, good things, marvelous things.”
After this encounter I decided never to lie about authors and books.
The taxi driver said: “It was a good game but I fell asleep.”
And I said: “Yes.”
I still don’t know why I lied to this man. It must be the unstoppable desire to please.
Saumon
you don't know the great Jacques Saumon? Jacques Saumon Fume [with an accent on e] to be precise. his ethical rhetoric on globally developing humanitarian societal issues in western civilizations such as rage leading to unnecessary poverty elsewhere and carbon footprinted counts of womens' rights in this self serving era of post-war modernism is mandatory reading.Desire to please
Sometimes I tell the truth without good reason for it. Which almost never works in my advantage. I also do this because I feel the desire to please and because I hope that by telling the truth people will like me for my honesty, but they almost never do. So treasure your impulse to lie. Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur.If all else fails: you could be moving to Sri Lanka, where saying "no" is considered an insult and not a lie.
Bernard
Regarding Dostoevsky: a polite provocation is not a lie.You see right through me …
Lying or bluffing
Is Sarah Palin lying or bluffing when she agrees with statements she obviously knows nothing about?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ok1r0yS-UHA&feature=related
(She obviously doesn't even know who the Prime Minister of Canada is. And I believe she must be able to also see Canada from her house.)
Mr. Dee
I'm wondering - am I the only one in this world who's not allowed to pretend to be something I'm not?Ms Palin
You cannot sell a sardine as a salmon.Carlos Dee, your real name I presume?
