“If You Tell Me The Truth I Won’t Get Mad”: 30 Netizens Share The Biggest Lies They Fell For
Interview
Few people would likely say they enjoy being lied to, however many have arguably been deceived in one way or another. And while some lies might seem difficult to believe, others can be surprisingly convincing, especially if the liar is skilled enough not to start laughing at the worst possible time.
Redditor ‘WattAtWork’ has recently started a discussion about lies among members of the ‘Ask Reddit’ community. They asked them what has been the biggest lie they’ve ever fallen for, and fellow netizens shared all sorts of stories, ranging from funny to pretty upsetting, and everything in between. If you want to see what kind of webs netizens have found themselves trapped in, scroll down to find their answers on the list below to find out.
Below you will also find Bored Panda’s interviews with the redditor ‘WattAtWork’ themselves, as well as professor in the department of educational and counseling psychology at McGill University and author of the book The Truth About Lying: Teaching Honesty to Children at Every Age and Stage, Dr. Victoria Talwar.
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"We value you as our employee and the people working here are most important to us".
If you tell me the truth I won't get mad.
That is why we say; if you tell me the truth, I won't get as mad as I would when you lie to me.
“I thought, what is something general many people want to know? What question might be interesting while not revealing anything about the person per se as well as anything on the internet that doesn't require some sort of account holder? Then I came up with the perfect question: ‘What's the biggest lie you've fallen for?’,” the redditor ‘WattAtWork’ shared with Bored Panda, revealing why they decided to pose this specific question to the online community.
The OP seemingly took certain answers with a pinch of salt, though some stories the redditors shared did surprise them. “I, being new to Reddit after all (1 week, 1 day old account at the time of posting), have learnt quickly that the answers you get are often a mixture of jokes and truth,” they said.
“What stood out most, however, were all the comments about people's love relationships and their agreements about truth and lies. Many people have experienced their partner lying to them but believing it. I replied as best I could at the beginning of the post, before the comments piled up one by one, that they didn't fall out of sheer stupidity but out of hope for love.”
Don’t remember the biggest lie, but my dad has a bald spot and when I was a kid he told me and my siblings that he got it from going to bed while chewing gum and they had to cut it out the next day
You bet your a*s none of us ever went to bed with gum after that.
Why on earth would you go to bed with chewing gum in the first place?!
"we support a healthy work life balance"
Btw manditory overtime everyday this week.
That each second between lightning and thunder is a mile. It was in my 3rd year of my physics degree before I learned my entire life was a lie. It's 5 seconds per mile btw.
“I think the majority of people on Earth fall for several lies every day,” ‘WattAtWork’ told Bored Panda. “It's mainly about trying to see beyond the lie and understand the intention of the lie. You should definitely not be broken by a lie you fall for. Let yourself build an information field instead.
“Sometimes it can also be about lying for your own good, but sometimes it can instead be about people not being trustworthy,” they continued. “I think the biggest lie I've fallen for is that my friends haven't talked behind my back.”
If you work hard and save you can own the American dream.
When I was a kid, we would often drive a town over to visit my cousins. One of the roads passed through some ponds, one of which had a perculiar looking branch that had fallen over.
I always noticed it, would point it out to everyone in the car, and one day my dad said it was a “crocomigator” as a joke since we had just watched some Crocodile Dundee before heading out.
In my head it made sense, I knew how alligators could lay dormant for months at a time with a low heart rate, so the fact it wouldnt move just meant he was hibernating.
Years go by, parents split, my dad passes away, still look out for this crocimigator, get to high school, still looking out at the pond to look at this fallen tree not really remembering why.
Then one day, I am like 19, my mom, brother and I are driving on the same road, I instinctively check the pond and its not there. The memories flooded back and I say “god damn it”.
My mom asked me whats wrong and it took me a bit to stop laughing, but I explained the story of the “crocomigator” and we all laughed at how silly looking log in the water and my dad managed to trick me for years.
That focusing on education, rather than on developing social skills and meaningful connections, will be enough to lead a fulfilling and prosperous life.
Thanks mom, you had the best intentions.
As with everything else, balance is key. Says the banana who would rather stay home by himself or with just his partner 99% of the time :)
Author of The Truth About Lying: Teaching Honesty to Children at Every Age and Stage, Prof. Victoria Talwar, pointed out that people lie for a variety of reasons, which can be thought of as a spectrum. “On one end are lies that are completely self-oriented—told to benefit the self—followed by lies for self-gain (to escape punishment or negative consequences). Then there are reputational lies told to make people think well of the liar, then the lies that are more other-oriented, and towards the other end of the spectrum—lies to be polite, lies told to protect others or their feelings, eventually reaching altruistic lies where there is a potential cost for oneself but benefit for another human,” she explained in a recent interview with Bored Panda.
'I'm not having an affair, I think I'm asexual'.
-- My ex Wife who certainly was having an affair, and not in the slightest bit asexual.
“I’ll pay you back.”
$9000 in the hole later… still haven’t been paid back.
If you loan a friend money, best to consider it a gift. That way, if they pay you back, great, but if they don't, you are a great gift giver.
According to Dr. Talwar, most people only lie occasionally—they may lie for self-gain or because they can achieve their interpersonal goals through deceit—it rarely ever becomes a habitual, chronic behavior. “Only very few people—less than 5%—are prolific liars; most people tell the occasional lie. Those that do lie, though, may tell lies more frequently and are also likely to tell bigger lies with bigger consequences.”
My sister convinced me that I was adopted.
Cruel b***h. The appropriate rebike might be "well at least they really chose to have me", but that's hard for a kid to come up with.
Decaf removed caffeine from my body
ETA: yall I know what it is, I believed decaf was a way to remove caffeine from the human body. BELIEVED.
I ignored my studies because I thought the world is gonna end in 2012.
“Most of the time, we consider lying not a desirable behavior. The reason for this is because it erodes an individual’s credibility and it erodes trust,” Prof. Talwar pointed out. “Those that lie frequently often have difficulties in their social relationships; to be considered a liar is a terrible indictment in our society.”
I believed that whole s**t of “if you both have braces and u kiss they’ll get stuck together” until i actually kissed someone with braces and they were like “u know that’s fake right”.
That getting a Masters in a STEM field would get me a great salary job!
MINT in German, Beta-vakken in Dutch. Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics. Well, the chances of getting handed such a job on a golden plate without any activities from your side are pretty much low. But during that Master, students do usually meet potential employers. During internships, on fairs, visits to companies... It also depends on your specific field and knowledge and your plans for your life.
Ex wife telling me how disgusting cheaters are and how they are succumb of the earth. Guess why I am divorced.
That a fat guy in a red suit travelled the entire world in one night in a sleigh pulled by magic flying reindeer delivering presents to all the good kids. But only the good kids, bad kids can get bent. And he knows who is who because he's *always watching*.
You want to keep on getting a stocking filled with presents? Smile, nod and pretend you still believe.
I always told my high school friends that I was happy to believe in anything that resulted in more gifts.
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What's wrong in believing in santa. Its a wonderful holiday kids have fun, everyone is together in certain families anyway. Its gorgeous. I'm not Christian now but was growing up, i remember the excitement, the sweets and chocolates. I never asked for anything because i wouldn't have gotten it but i had hope and the stories of santa were so exciting. We need to let kids have some fun, believing in santa is totally harmless.
Except it isn't. It's lying to your children. You can still tell your children about the myths and stories, even "some people believe xyz". But the threats, the "if you don't behave Santa won't bring you presents!" if a load of BS.
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Just wait till you hear about the other dude in the sky watching your every move 🙄
Rewrite this one about every single major religious text/story/god/prophet and tell me that it's not identical to Santa Claus.
When I was questioning the reality of Mr. Clause; no one can do the whole world in one night. My older brother showed me the globe and the International Date Line. He explained the time difference and that there was really TWO nights for distributing gifts world wide. I believed for another year :)
I hate this "good kids" narrative. We're Jewish and for a few years (before she told us), our lovely daughter worried that she wasn't a good child because Father Christmas didn't come to her. I explained it's only for Christians or sort-of Christians or not-anything-else-in-particular kids. I'll save the "old white man taking the credit for what is mainly women's work" explanation for another year ;-)
Well, somebody is always watching for sure online. Just Amazon/devilish Temu etc delivers not based on being good but on having money. I am afraid there is some truth to poor little elves being exploited to produce all the stuff...
"Old, unshaven man stares at children while they are sleeping and offers them gifts to be 'good'. Is rumored to often be fling high. Hygiene is questionable due to always being seen in the same clothes. Sometimes hangs around shopping malls hoping little kids will sit in his lap. " LOL - sounds so pervy in today's society.
Everything is made sound pervy, weird and disgusting in todays society.
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Same as a dude who was born to a virgin, then killed, then zombified and currently living in an invisible, magical kingdom in the clouds that watches everything you do to make sure you don't f*ck up, or he'll send you to a place of wternal suffering because he supposedly loves you. So much BS in religion of any kind, but people continuing falling for it even millenia later.
My siblings and I never believed in Santa, even as kids. Our parents weren't gonna let some "fat, old white man" (in their words) take the credit for all those presents they bought with their hard earned money. 😂
My dad straightened me out on that when I was two, he wasn't sharing the glory with any fat guy.
Milton Jones: why does he perpetuate the class divide by giving more expensive presents to the children of rich parents?
I had already figured it out by this point, but my brother hadn't when we went to go and see Santa one year. It was our dad behind the beard. That was just so, so weird.
All right," said Susan. "I'm not stupid. You're saying humans need... fantasies to make life bearable." REALLY? AS IF IT WAS SOME KIND OF PINK PILL? NO. HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE. "Tooth fairies? Hogfathers? Little—" YES. AS PRACTICE. YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES. "So we can believe the big ones?" YES. JUSTICE. MERCY. DUTY. THAT SORT OF THING. "They're not the same at all!" YOU THINK SO? THEN TAKE THE UNIVERSE AND GRIND IT DOWN TO THE FINEST POWDER AND SIEVE IT THROUGH THE FINEST SIEVE AND THEN SHOW ME ONE ATOM OF JUSTICE, ONE MOLECULE OF MERCY. AND YET—Death waved a hand. AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME...SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED. "Yes, but people have got to believe that, or what's the point—" MY POINT EXACTLY. Terry Pratchett, Hogfather (Discworld, #20; Deat
Didn't matter how good we were, Santa never came. The Chanakka Zombie, sure! Shout out to Futurama.
I was about 11 when some neighbor kids (who were a******s for the start) said I’m stupid for believing and that’s not true, I came home sobbing and talked to my mom, I was so upset. But now I get to hide out the presents there, eat the cookies :) and I help with Easter!! So it’s not soo bad.
Oh, Lordy - with that picture cutting off before you see any red, my weirdass brain thought I was looking at some sort of Ayatollah Khomeini characters
replace fat guy and red suit with mysterious figure in a white robe.
I was catfished for like a year because i was young and stupid.
I got told I love you by a girl I had a crush on once but apparently she loved everyone else too.
I convinced my sister that the word "Mormon" was a very bad word. I was 11.
When I was a kid, my siblings convinced me that Medusa lived in our attic.
“Would you like to buy a magazine subscription?”.
That's like getting a landlines call before we had caller ID. Dude tried claiming there was a problem with our "Windows PC." The Indian sounding guy was super thrown off when I told him there weren't any in the house. Didn't mention that with only one exception the only computers ever in the house were made by Apple
Once as a child they told me that in GTA Vice City there is a secret code for winter to appear, and I even wrote it on a piece of paper, and for a long time I thought that I was simply entering the cheat code incorrectly...
"Click this link for free ROBUX".
That a seven foot tall rabbit would break into my house during the first Sunday after the Paschal full moon, and leave eggs everywhere.
We’d go to the mall to see the Easter bunny and my mom would be all “that’s who leaves the eggs in our house!” Scared me so much tbh.
My dad used to say never play with your belly button because you can unscrew it and your butt will fall off...I believed this until I was about 10 I think lol
Mine told me that if I played with fire I'd pee in the bed at night.
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"l have commitment issues due to my past traumas so l want to take things slowly" all while travelling his very committed (and unknown to me) girlfriend to London to meet his mum and friends. Slowly only referred to going public, he apparently didn't have problems with going fast physically. Scummy pos.
One of the biggest lies, lol. Right after just the tip
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my dad once showed me the middle finger, and told me that it ment "i love you". this was in first grade. my mom once told me that if i cut my hair, my curls would go straight. and now, not only do i want a shorter haircut, but now my curls are straighter than i am
I grew up in a small town and my sister had me convinced there's no such thing as black people. I had never seen one in real life. She reminded me I watched Star Trek w/ our dad and knew blue people aren't real. And this was around the time Michael Jackson went from black to white. I believed her until I was in high school.
Funny one: when I was 7 & my brother was 14, he & his friends found some rolling papers and rolled up basil or oregano "joints" & went into the backyard to "smoked" them. He saw me spying on them, so he had me come outside & take a drag off one, then told me if I ever told on him for anything ever again he'd tell my mom I smoked marijuana. I didn't find out until I was in my 20s that it wasn't marijuana, nor did it ever occur to me that HE would've gotten in trouble for giving it to me!
No nation-building, no amnesties and no bailouts. Not in Bill Clinton's wildest dreams did he think he could accomplish for the Democrats what George Bush did.
I asked a friend if they knew what hoobastank as a name was before the band. He said "the 'h' in Jesus H. Christ. And I believed it 😬
That America is a good country. That hard work, talent and determination mean something. They dont. The system is rigged and corrupt beyond any hope of repair.
Biggest lie I ever believed was that there was nothing strange going on between my legs. (There's a lot strange going on down there!)
A Jewish woman, who was married but never had sex got knocked up by a ghost and spawned a child who wrote a book
My dad used to say never play with your belly button because you can unscrew it and your butt will fall off...I believed this until I was about 10 I think lol
Mine told me that if I played with fire I'd pee in the bed at night.
Load More Replies... "l have commitment issues due to my past traumas so l want to take things slowly" all while travelling his very committed (and unknown to me) girlfriend to London to meet his mum and friends. Slowly only referred to going public, he apparently didn't have problems with going fast physically. Scummy pos.
One of the biggest lies, lol. Right after just the tip
Load More Replies... my dad once showed me the middle finger, and told me that it ment "i love you". this was in first grade. my mom once told me that if i cut my hair, my curls would go straight. and now, not only do i want a shorter haircut, but now my curls are straighter than i am
I grew up in a small town and my sister had me convinced there's no such thing as black people. I had never seen one in real life. She reminded me I watched Star Trek w/ our dad and knew blue people aren't real. And this was around the time Michael Jackson went from black to white. I believed her until I was in high school.
Funny one: when I was 7 & my brother was 14, he & his friends found some rolling papers and rolled up basil or oregano "joints" & went into the backyard to "smoked" them. He saw me spying on them, so he had me come outside & take a drag off one, then told me if I ever told on him for anything ever again he'd tell my mom I smoked marijuana. I didn't find out until I was in my 20s that it wasn't marijuana, nor did it ever occur to me that HE would've gotten in trouble for giving it to me!
No nation-building, no amnesties and no bailouts. Not in Bill Clinton's wildest dreams did he think he could accomplish for the Democrats what George Bush did.
I asked a friend if they knew what hoobastank as a name was before the band. He said "the 'h' in Jesus H. Christ. And I believed it 😬
That America is a good country. That hard work, talent and determination mean something. They dont. The system is rigged and corrupt beyond any hope of repair.
Biggest lie I ever believed was that there was nothing strange going on between my legs. (There's a lot strange going on down there!)
A Jewish woman, who was married but never had sex got knocked up by a ghost and spawned a child who wrote a book
