From tall tales to small fibs and everything

in between we all lie and anyone who says otherwise lying.

But while everyone does it, we sought

to look at which gender is the bigger offender and fingers started pointing at each

other, swearing up and down that the opposite sex is the main perpetrator.

Somewhere in the middle lies the truth.

A group of friends representing both

sexes recently sat down to discuss the matter and things quickly turned from

fun to fighting words.

The women in the room claimed that

while they lie they generally did it out of necessity, to spare someone’s

feelings, while being adamant that men lie because it’s their nature. They felt

that men lied often and for no reason other than it being in their DNA.

Things clearly went downhill after that

as the men countered that women are generally two-faced creatures who will

smile at another woman, pay her a compliment and then, behind her back, tear

her down in the worst way, often hitting below the belt.

The mudslinging and the accusations and

slander required a ceasefire as emotions ran high. It soon became obvious that

a fair or frank discussion needed not only a mediator but possibly some holy

water.

So, we discarded the discussion in

favour of data gathered by others as it was pretty clear that we would not be

making any ground-breaking discoveries ourselves. A 2017 British study

commissioned by The Express with over 2,000 participants, declared that the

trophy for lying hands down goes to men.

The findings were that men lie more

than their partners and one in ten did it on a regular basis and 10 claimed to

do it regularly. One in three admitted that the lies they told were serious and

that five out of the top 20 untruths concerned infidelity. Two of the top ten

lies were ‘I’ve never cheated on you’ and ‘I was out with friends’. The general

consensus was that at least a quarter of those surveyed did not completely

trust their current partner.

One psychologist cautioned against

painting men with a broad brush as boldfaced liars as most lies told fall into

two categories – self-serving and kind-hearted. The former are uttered by

people who are into themselves, arrogant and possibly narcissistic. They sprout

these easily to make themselves look better, to cover embarrassment or not take

responsibility or blame for a situation.

The other type or the ‘kind-hearted liars’ are told simply to make others feel good about themselves. They mean no harm, are intended to motivate, inspire or to spare someone’s feelings. Lies such as “You look great!” or “the dinner tasted good” are considered little white lies as at the end of the day, as they have caused no real harm or injury. While men and women both lie, empirical data as to who makes the better Pinocchio is still up for debate.