On a scale of one to ten with one being a typical Pravda article and 10 being Lincoln, how honest are you? Under what circumstances do you permit yourself to lie?

The answers (in order recieved):

  • I tend to consider myself about a nine. I find it very difficult to lie, except if it's a polite lie (of COURSE you don't look stupid in your paisley outfits!). Whenever I do lie, it's to protect somebody, or to save what little face I have if somebody is about to bring up one of my more embarassing moments.

  • I'll give myself a 7.5. I rarely lie about anything very important. I will sometimes conceal realities or intentionally divulge partial truthes if it will help me avoid unnecessary hassles or difficulties. I will lie to protect the secrets of friends (although more typically I will just say I have no comment, not really a lie but more of an avoidance of telling the truth). I will also lie and/or conceal things about myself when I am around certain individuals if I feel the truth would either affect in an extremely adverse manner their opinion of me or possibly lead to unnecessary arguments. This answer is getting too long.

  • Depends on who's asking and who's listening. ;-)

  • I consider myself about a 6 or 7... Damn near everything I say is the truth, but more of a half truth. The all out lies are fairly infrequent, just because word choice can allow you to know that the other person believes a lie, though you statement is true... i.e. "I don't want to have sex, I have to get some homework done." Both true, though I didn't _say_ that one causes the other...

  • with my fiance, i'm honest abe with parents and professors about a 5 with politicians, lawyers, and administrators about a -50 what they don't know will hurt them. i hope.

  • I'm about an 8. I'll lie if it's something that I'm not supposed to tell, or if it's something I want to keep a secret, or if it's something I figure they shouldn't know - or I don't have the right to tell.

  • I mostly tell the truth so I don't have to remember what I lied about. Remembering is just too hard. 8

  • Overall, I'd give myself an 8. I generally don't lie, except for the white variety. My problem is when it comes to telling stories. I tend to exaggerate somewhat because I don't feel I'm all that interesting.

  • i never lie. tho the way my mama puts it: "no, you dont lie, you just _omit_ things."(Like the answer to this question maybe...)

  • 8. i'm honest most of the time, and when i'm not honest, it's more like i tell the truth selectively. If i don't have anything positive or neutral to say, i don't say anything at all.

  • 9....Really the only time would be if I knew it would be completely harmless or if it was to protect a friend whom I knew would not eventually end up hurt because of it.

  • 9, I lie when it is so far in my best interests that it outways the evil I would do.

  • 9, or maybe 8. I hate lying and I almost never do it. I feel perfectly free to IMPLY something entirely other, but I don't outright lie unless it's very minor to save someone's feelings, or if the person I'm lying to is canal scum and doesn't deserve the truth any more than he or she deserves to have crawled out of the primordial ooze. And even then I'll almost always tell the truth. It gets me in trouble with irritating regularity...

  • Probably around a 9 or so. I usually try to remain completely honest, but occasionally I either 1) hide or stretch the truth without actually lying, or 2) go ahead and bull somebody to prevent someone else from getting hurt or some such.

  • I'm fairly honest, sometimes too honest these days... I'd have to consider myself about a 7.

  • I think I'm about a 7.7 on the honesty scale. Generally, i usually only lie to "protect" someone from getting hurt by insignificant or irrelevant information. I don't know if you'd consider this lying, but I try to put a good spin on things when life's kickin me in the teeth. A sort of "sweet lemons" or "bella figura" type attitude.

  • Hmmm, I figure I'm about a 8.5 I admit, I have told little white lies here and there. Mostly in job interviews... Q:Why do you want to work here? Lie: I want to use my experience to help this company and gain persoal growth (or something along those lines) Real answer: I want money I honstly don't think that _anyone_ is completely honest. Another white lie: No, Dad, Mom didn't give me any money. No, Mom, Dad didn't give me any money. (works well with divorced parents)

  • I am fairly honest. I mean I have cheated on exams and little things that really don't matter in the longrun. What I would never ever do under any circumstances is cheat on my boyfriend. That kins of dishonesty is somehing that the other person may never be able to get over.

  • i'm about 8, i don't really lie, i just exaggerate a bit. ok alot, well kinda.:-)

  • Hmmmm ...depends who I am talking to .... If it is my parental units I would rate myself at about a 2...(sometimes at a 6 with my Mom...she gets some of the minor details)...with My present girlfriend I would be a 10 because she can see through just about anything... with my past girlfriends, I would be at either a 7 when we are getting along, or a -3 when we aren't.." What..what blonde chick??..what are you talking about...??? are you feeling alright...?? .. No Sweetie, I would NEVER....(haha sucker)"...

  • Let's see...lately I have been a 10, though I think my sweetie would have rather not known it all. With the parents I'm about an 8 I usually just leave out info not lie. If the guy is really the jealous type i have been known to lie about where I have been, but I no longer have a need for that :) the guy i'm with now has never given me a reason to lie.

  • I'm big on honesty. If I tell someone I'm gonna do something, I almost always follow through. I'm not a good liar, and I have a nagging conscience, so I don't lie if I don't have to. Lies are okay if in doing so, a great good comes out of them. Fortunately, that kind o' situation don't pop up that often.

  • I'd say about a 7. Yes, I do lie, and I've been feeling guilty about it lately, but most of the time it is either to avoid conflict with an authority figure or to try to keep from hurting someone else's feelings. I do a lot of the latter kind, actually. What this means, of course, is that really the only person I am lying to is myself. Wow, that was pretty profound and depressing, wouldn't you say?

    My answer:

    6. I'm completely honest with my friends, and complete strangers, even if it means that they'll be hurt. I will occassionaly decline to answer a question, but that is the only way I'd ever avoid hurting somebody's feelings.
    Its a bit different with authority figures. I have no problem lying to save my ass. I feel guilty abnout it once in a while, but usually I decide that I don't really care.

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