Lies, Darwinisms and little white porkies on Facebook.

Be grateful. Imagine a world without lies. It is the lies that give our relationships texture. They are the friction of life. Honest.

I think a lot of fibbing is more about laziness than anything else. It's easier to say, "call you later" rather than stopping to think whether or not calling later is either possible or something you'll feel minded to do. Also "call you later" has become another irritating euphemism - it's shorthand for communicating the wish/intention to be in touch at some time in the not too distant future. The fact it can be misleading and unhelpful seems to pass too many people by.

I was going to suggest to Ros that maybe writers are less inclined to be "lazy" with the truth because words are their currency, but Mr Groves is a very fine writer and has just admitted to being happy to fib a little - so bang goes that idea.

No, you haven't mentioned how much you miss our chats in the newsroom, Paul, but I hope you understand that anything I said was the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

To not lie at all is an admirable existentialist ambition.

The best I can do is not to lie about important stuff tho', who has the energy to explain just what the criteria for the next time you'll phone someone is? "I'll never get round to phoning you really, but I won't be upset if you call me. Once every couple of months is enough contact for me"

I distinguish between spin and lies. If someone asks if I'm bored, I'm likely to say 'no, just a bit distracted', which is true enough. If someone asks if I saw an ex the other night, I'll be forthright about it. The consequences of being found out are less in the former than in the latter. One benefit of this approach is that I refrain from doing things that have potentially severe consequences. Pain avoidance, I think it's called.

The interesting thing about this post, though, is that the journalists seem to think it's a matter of course to dissemble, spin, fib, and manipulate. So the question of one's 'relationship with the truth' takes on a broader cast when one's profession is concerned.

But that wouldn't be the only side to the story, as there are renowned journalists who are driven by very scrupulous, obsessive ideas about truth. I guess that means a specific context needs to be part of the question.

Paul, your response underscores one of my points, perhaps intentionally, perhaps not.

The point is that one's profession may influence one's mindset in ways that are invisible and reasoned from the inside, but quite noticeable and inscrutable from the outside.

In this case, the idea that one would use disingenuity to get at a story (point taken about 'truth') is not something that would occur to me. Maybe it's a trade mark of investigators, interrogators and their respective cultures (with exceptions of course). But I can't quite fathom why someone would 'invariably' take that approach as a research method. Which makes the example illustrative of a difference, and reinforces the notion that your world and mine don't necessarily coincide.

Well that was interesting! There are so many strands of thoughts there I can't pick up on them all.... Thanks scribes.

I don't think I fib either in my professional or personal lives, but maybe you guys are just more honest with yourselves than I am.

I enjoyed Jon's response to Ros about whether it is necessary to explain the time frame around "call you later." It seems some people use the phrase as a code for "can't be bothered" while others of a more literal bent, such as myself, take it at face value and wait by the phone. I don't think it's fibbing to use the code, but I do think misunderstandings arise when people are using language in different ways.

Maybe I should wise-up, be less literal and enjoy Nick's "friction." But there again I'd miss my paint-stripping honesty. It's fun.

That makes sense to me, dp. Thanks for that. I think that need to keep one's opinions to oneself increases with age. For me being young meant having nothing to hide. The older I get the more I understand why people might want to hide their intentions.