The 40 Lies Everyone Tells on a Daily Basis

Let's face it, we all stretch the truth from time to time. Every now and then it's a big lie that involves deliberate deceit and planning—like calling in sick to work, complete with a convincing fake cough and a touch of calculated congestion—but mostly it's in the form of inconsequential white lies that we tell to avoid hurting someone's feelings, to get on with our day, or to make our stories a little more interesting. With this in mind, here are 40 of the most common white lies people use on daily basis.

See also "I'm five minutes away," or "just around the block." You know you're not almost there—it's going to be at least a half hour before you get to where your friends are waiting for you—but you still have to fudge the truth.

You saw the email when it came in, you may have even opened and read it, and then decided to deal with it later. In fact, you didn't do anything with it. But when the sender asked you about it, perhaps weeks or months later, perhaps copying your boss, you had to give some excuse for why you didn't do anything with it. So spam it was.

When you get texts from two different friends suggesting two different plans and can't make a decision about which you'd like to do, this is a convenient way to get out of making any choice at all. You just ignore both of them and send along this text the next morning.

A solid back-up to "my phone died," this lie is great for explaining away basically anything—an email you ignored, a voicemail you never answered, or a text you sent and regret. Just blame the phone!

A good one to break out when your partner asks how much you spent on that new jacket or shoes. You definitely couldn't afford them, but that's what credit cards are for, right?

Yeah, right. We know you mean "four more."

Just because it's streaming on your computer and not on a flatscreen mounted to your wall doesn't mean it's not still TV. More often than not, this is a lie you tell yourself—that since you're choosing what to watch rather than letting cable or network stations dictate what you watch, you are not just watching TV. But that's exactly what it is.

Don't you really mean that you haven't even started?

You haven't seen this person for months and if it was up to you, it would be years more before you saw them again. But you bumped into them at a cocktail party and now have to act as if there's no one else in the world you'd rather run into. Just admit it: It's really not that great to see them.

Then why did you swipe right before you'd looked at their profile?

Depending on your history, that number is either wildly inflated or a massive understatement. Either way, you're no doubt stretching the truth.

An old staple to use when a friend mentions a book or movie you probably should have read or seen by now, but never got around to it. Unless you want to get that judgmental, "you haven't read/seen that yet?!" reaction, your only option is this little white lie.

The person you were just introduced to certainly seems to remember you. They can even name your mutual friend and the party where you first met. But you've got no idea who they are and aren't about to admit it, so you smile and warmly recall meeting them before. It's a harmless fib that saves both parties some embarrassment.

When a friend explains their decision to move miles out of the city or to get a pet iguana instead of a dog or some other choice that seems weird or illogical, sometimes this is the only thing you can say.

If you don't like where a conversation is going, bad reception is the perfect scapegoat. There might be a slight bit of static on the other line or a little break in the audio, but if you really wanted to hear what the other person was saying, you probably could.

When your boss asked you to write up a proposal you know he'd just end up ignoring, you decided to ignore the request yourself. But in that rare case where your boss remembers something he asked you to do, you've got to act like it slipped out of your mind, not that you deliberately ignored him.

Let's be honest, it's you.

As in, "I'm good, how are you?" It's the automatic response we give in almost every small-talk exchange, whether it's with coworkers or complete strangers. You could be feeling depressed, or fighting off the flu, or just having a horrible day, but you're always going to say, "I'm good."

Serving a similar function as "I'm good," only this response might have more passive-aggressive connotations. Often used when you're trying to convey that you are not fine to your partner or someone at work who is annoying you.

You have Google Maps and Waze and you probably have a pretty good idea of how long it will take you to get from one place to another. Yet you didn't leave your place until 20 minutes before you were supposed to be somewhere that you knew would take at least 45 minutes to get to, and then blamed traffic for the error of your ways. Likely story.ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb

We know when this sentence is true by how truly exasperated you are. If it actually broke down, you wouldn't stop talking about it. But, like the traffic lie, blaming the subway is a convenient way to cover for your scheduling screw up. It also has the benefit of giving the person you're offering the excuse to something they can commiserate with you about. Instead of giving you a dirty look for being late, they are more likely to respond with their own subway horror story.

Even if it's something as small as gum, you know it's petty not to offer a little of what you've got to a friend, or even stranger, in need. But for whatever reason, you just can help yourself from being greedy, so you act like you're all out—and just hope the person asking doesn't spot you grabbing another stick of gum in an hour.

Yeah, right—you've been maybe twice this month and consider that a near-record. But when someone asks, you don't want to be honest about how slothful you are—and, at the same time, you don't want to be too obviously lying by saying you're working out every day. So you split the difference and go with the "believable" four days.

You know your calendar is wide open but you just don't want to do the thing you were invited to. You could just tell the truth and say, "I don't want to do that," but instead you act like you've got a packed schedule. Just watch out for when they ask if you've got plans the next day.

You don't have an appointment, you want to leave work early or get in late. Watch out about using this one more than once every few months unless you're going to have to build that little lie out into a whole ongoing illness or disease, which can get complicated.

Said more often around Valentine's Day or any gift-giving holiday, this is the lie you say when you get something you really hate, or at least think is pretty lame, but don't want to hurt the feelings of the giver. Now you just need to figure out who you can regift it to…

No, it's not. It's also not funny, surprising, exciting, or any other positive adjective, but you have to say something about it, so you're stuck with calling it exactly what it is not, "interesting."

You spotted that person the minute you walked in but were really hoping they didn't see you—or at least would pretend they didn't. Unfortunately, the other person is not willing to play along, so now you're going to have to have that awkward interaction—and pretend that there is nothing else you'd rather be doing.

You're careful not to include any specifics—not "next week" or even "next month." Just the noncommittal "soon," which allows you to give the appearance of wanting nothing more than to see this person while avoiding ever actually having to hang out with them again.

I think you mean "never." Like "let's hang out soon," this is a favorite lie of those who want to put on the appearance of friendliness without actually wanting to be friends.

When someone asks you about an impressive or powerful person that they know used to work at the same place you do, this little lie can come in handy. You don't try to say that you were thick as thieves, but that you crossed paths on occasion—even though they'd have no idea who you were.

You have nowhere else to be, but this party is starting to get boring and you know you'd rather just hang out at home. You just don't want to hurt anyone's feelings so you try to add a little urgency to your departure.

A great lie when you don't feel like going out. It also has the added benefit of seeming like you have no choice in the matter, and aren't just choosing to be a bit of loner.

With what? You've had plenty of time to return a call or help out with the errand your friend is asking you about, but you'd rather not do it and instead act like you're so busy with a million other things that somehow have taken up all your time.

You were not just going to say anything about it because you had no idea they just got a really pricey haircut. Fortunately they gave you an open door to save face.

A convenient button to add to any comment that you realize was a bit too true. When you say something that comes out a little harsher or more honest than you'd intended (perhaps after a few beers), this is a favorite go-to for backtracking. Nobody believes you were joking, but it's easier than acknowledging that you just said exactly what you meant.

Weird how you would draft an email and then just not send it for months. More likely, you just didn't write the email in the first place.

Your partner fancies themself a master chef and is often forcing their odd creations on you. The raspberry-radish combo in their latest dish really doesn't work, but you can't really say anything or your whole relationship might take a hit. So you swallow as much as you can and find a way to discard the rest.

It looks ridiculous and you know it.

Looks like any other baby you've seen, right?