White lies, polite lies [ Reading & Writing / Communication ]
… reject a sociable sincerity that proved to be elusive. Practices > Reading & Writing Practices > Communication Mots-clés Conversation Falsehood Lies Politeness A white lie, the OED explains, is ‘a harmless or trivial lie, esp. one told in … 3 If James Boswell is to be believed, Johnson himself generally used the term rather loosely in his own third sense in conversation, indicating a story that was not strictly accurate rather than a deception. This, however, led him into … a darker complexion’ (187). He explicitly cautioned against what might be termed sociable lies, or polite lies told in conversation: ‘Much of the pleasure, and all of the benefit of conversation, depends upon our opinion of the speaker’s …
Conversation | Falsehood | Lies | Politeness
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