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I suppose what I'm saying is that when an individual human, in a social capacity, tells you they saw X at the bar yesterday (when actually they didn't at all),

I suppose what I'm saying is that when an individual human, in a social capacity, tells you they saw X at the bar yesterday (when actually they didn't at all), that's lying, there's an intention to deceive, it's an abnormal interaction; out of the ordinary. What salesmen do is not really lying in the same sense. It's more of an eternal waffle, the words required of them fall out of their mouth in smoothly flowing paragraphs, a distortion field where truth and falsehood blend together. They'll say what you want to hear, which can be both better or worse than lying, but it's quite a different thing. People talk about this in the context of politicians quite a lot. It's quite rare for them to outright lie, it's more about the waffle.

benj111 7y ago
Agreed, except "but it's quite a different thing". Is it? The person that says they saw X at the bar, is probably the same kind of person that will say black is white at work. Whereas the person that tries to maintain integrity at work isn't likely to be the type to go home and lie. There are times at work where the way I've felt comfortable presenting something hasn't matched what the company would like me to present it as. I can see how someone with less scruples would go further than I were willing to.
short_sells_poo 7y ago
"The words required of them fall out of their mouth in smoothly flowing paragraphs." This made me chuckle. I see what you are trying to point out, and generally agree, but it's sort of a way to make a fundamentally negative behavior seem almost endearing. "the sword was deployed in smooth swipes and swift thrusts to achieve victory over the enemy" sounds different from "make the enemy's guts spill and blood gush in torrents until they flee in terror".