silky Posted September 21, 2001 Share Posted September 21, 2001 What is the difference between a white lie and a black lie? Does anybody have any good examples? And are white lies counted as cheating? Link to post Share on other sites
Tony T Posted September 21, 2001 Share Posted September 21, 2001 Generally, a white lie is considered more harmless and the intent is different. Some examples of white lies: Telling a woman her dress is pretty when you don't really think so. Telling a friend you already have plans when you actually don't. These lies don't materially harm anyone but, nevertheless, they are untrue. I have never heard of a black lie but any other outright untruth is just a lie. An example would be if you were selling a car and you told a prospective buyer that there were no problems with it when actually the electrical system caused the car to go dead on occasion. I have never heard of lies characterized as cheating although you can lie to your partner about whether or not you have cheated on them. Or you can use lies in the process of cheating. If you cheat on a test by looking at another's answers, this is not direct lying but it is a form of dishonesty. You can be dishonest without lying. You can also lie by saying nothing at all, this is called concealment. An example would be if you sell a house as being in good condition but fail to tell your buyer it sits above a sinkhole, that is lying by concealment. Many people lie by concealment through failure to reveal essential facts. Link to post Share on other sites
silky Posted September 21, 2001 Share Posted September 21, 2001 Thank you, Tony, for differentiating which lies are which. I just have one more question... So white lies don't intentionally harm the other person directly. Instead, they are said to keep the other person from getting jealous or having the wrong idea, especially in a relationship, right? Let's say that neither the man or woman has cheated on each other - but maybe one was stuck in a situation where it just "looked or seemed bad" but it was just completely harmless, so a white lie was used to save the emotional discomfort of the other. Are there any consequences to using white lies? Link to post Share on other sites
Tony T Posted September 21, 2001 Share Posted September 21, 2001 There are no particular consequences in this lifetime that I am aware of. However, people of certain faiths believe that people's souls may have to spend an hour or two in purgatory (a very hot but temporary hell-like place) before going on to their eternal reward. Link to post Share on other sites
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