One of my favorite sayings is, “Lying liars lie,” likely because my observant and quick-witted grandma had a colorful saying for everything. Turns out she was right – once again – as a new survey shows more than three in every four Americans consider themselves to be a good liar.
In celebration of National Honesty Day on Thursday (remember when that used to be every day?) BonusFinder.com surveyed 6,100 Americans to uncover the extent of dishonesty in the United States. From telling little white lies to cheating at life in general, the survey uncovers the most common untruths told by the nation – as well as the states that are home to the biggest liars.
(Of course, now we have to wonder whether the liars were lying while taking the survey. But since that would stop this column in its tracks on only the third paragraph, let’s move on.)
Here are some highlights from the online survey:
- Women are more likely to lie regularly than men. (I know, my wife isn’t going to believe this, either.)
- Vermont is home to the biggest liars, as 36 percent of residents admit to lying on the regular. (North Carolina comes in at No. 25, but being in the middle of the pack doesn’t give me much to comment on.)
- Men are more likely to lie to their partner than women. (The wife’s back on board again.)
- 41 percent of Americans lie about whether they love someone. (I’m with the other 59 percent, sweetheart.)
BonusFinder.com also revealed the top five most common lies told in America:
- Lying on a resume – 85 percent. (I was always too afraid to do this after my buddy Jim pranked me with a fake call from the cops after I said I was age 16 on an application, instead of the correct 14, to get a job bagging groceries at Winn-Dixie. Thankfully, I was tall enough to get away with it.)
- Told someone their food tasted good when it didn’t – 61 percent. (This is one of those so-Southern mannerisms, where we don’t tell the exact truth, but it’s really for the good of everyone involved.)
- Told someone they look good when they didn’t – 47 percent. (I mean, I would never do this, but I’ve heard some people might.)
- Edited a selfie before posting it to make themselves look better – 44 percent. (That filtered number should be a whole lot higher today.)
- Told someone they have already left when they haven’t – 38 percent. (To be fair, I did already have one foot out of the door.)
Then there’s the Lie of the Year, a poll PolitiFact puts together to determine who can claim credit to being the biggest member of falsehood central. In 2022, there were some top-notch “pants on fire” nominees, including:
- President Joe Biden: “On my watch, for the first time in 10 years, seniors are getting an increase in their Social Security checks.”
- Former President Donald Trump: “President Barack Hussein Obama kept 33 million pages of documents, much of them classified. How many of them pertained to nuclear? Word is, lots!”
- Random Facebook posts: Schools are putting litter boxes in bathrooms to accommodate kids who identify as furries. (This was my favorite, as it was so ludicrous it felt like an overexaggerated Saturday Night Live skit.)
There can only be one winner, however, and liar extraordinaire Russian President Vladimir Putin took PolitiFact’s proverbial cake by saying ethnic Russians face “genocide perpetrated by the Kyiv regime.” Putin employed lies like this to co-opt Russian citizens whose family members would be sent to fight a war, kill others and possibly die themselves. (Amazingly, some Americans actually bought what he was selling.)
With 96 percent of Americans admitting to lying, it’s no surprise that 76 percent of Americans say they’re good at it. The other 24 percent may get out of the doghouse one day.
David Brown is publisher of the Cherokee Scout. You can reach him by phone, 837-5122; email, dbrown@cherokeescout.com; or Twitter @daviddBstroh.