h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Clare,

Okay, great. So now I am looking forward to reading about the greatest lie all the rest of you have told. Should I make some ?

az

Ooh yes, would be lovely . Does anyone have some ?

or even some

Don't mind me, I'm lurking, waiting for the lies to come out...

Someone else will have to go first. I'm being sent to bed early without any internet

Not me, I feel like an interloper here.

hey - *I've* already gone first, okay?

next?

az





(don't like chocolate . . .)

Infernally tormenting parents... I would love to lurk around some more, but my technophobe of a mother isn't letting me. Will check back tomorrow...

Infernally tormenting parents... I would love to lurk around some more, but my technophobe of a mother isn't letting me. Will check back tomorrow...

buenos nachos amigos,

kissitos,
az

I've got a corking lie for you all (I've got a few, actually, but the biggest ones would take FAR too long to explain), but it'll have to wait until tomorrow.

You know what they say, there are two rules of theatre:

1. Always leave the audience wanting more.

H.

The question was directed at everyone, not just Clare.
Personally, I'm not sure what the greatest lie I've ever told. I try not to lie, and try to forget them when I do!
Next question: ' What do you think about lies? Do you think they are a good thing or a bad thing? Do you think that sometimes lies are acceptable?'
I would answer 'yes' to the last question. Like when i've been up in my room reading a book and my mum comes up asking what I've been doing and I say I've been doing my spanish homework because that's what i've just put in front of me to make her think i really have been doing it. But i think other lies are pointless because it misleads people and makes them feel silly and gullible when they find out the truth of the matter, and makes you feel silly when you can't remember what the lie was.
I found it interesting when i was helping at a Christian holiday club one summer. The kids were told to scratch a commandment into a slab of plaster of paris. The most common ones were 'do not steal' and 'do not lie'. Hmmm.... How many 7 year olds do you know who steal on a regular basis?! I probably could have told you when i was that age.
Noggin, the Grandma's were ok. Well, i enjoyed my granny's cos i didn't have to do anything. My grandma's was pure hell, because she is old, has Alseimer's (sorry can't spell it), shingles, can't walk well, and has swollen ankles. So even trying to get her up the front door steps was a marathon and took her about half an hour. I'm not eggagerating. She was convinced she couldn't do it. I do love her though, it's just hard work when we go up there.
Phew! That was a long posting! Byeee!
Jem

Just been thinking whether my lie really is acceptable. It isn't, but i tend to do a bit of whatever the homework was, and then read my book, and then when i hear my mum come up the stairs i quickly do a bit more homework and then when she asks what i've been doing i say i've been doing such and such homework. Yes, I know it's not very nice, but at least i'm being honest, and at least i'm answering my own questions. Uhhum! But if you were in my place i bet you'd do the same. My parents dont like me reading novels. No-one ever seems to believe me when i tell them this though.
Jem

My postings weren't that boring! You are allowed to reply, or has everyone suddenly discovered that they are incredibly busy on tuesdays? Sorry, this is the girl speaking who wasn't online for a week. i'm just miffed cos at long last i've said something vaguely interesting. All right. sigh. You can go back to talking about ducks and the like.
Jem

Have patience, Perian!

In answer to your question, yes of course I think lies in general are bad, because they confuse and mislead and sometimes hurt people. I don't think it is ever *good* to lie, but sometimes it it is *right* (or necessary) to lie. Things like if a child's pet has died, telling them 'it was all over so quickly, she wouldn't have felt anyhting'. Or 'I don't think you're a bit ugly/stupid/fat ect'. Sometimes the truth is too hurtful to be worth it and a comforting lie that doesn't do any harm is better. I reckon that lying should be avoided wherever possible though.

Clare

Az,
You do come across even on here as a pretty 'together' sort of person. Not in the smarmy artificial way that some people (headteachers, friends of parnets etc), more sort of confident to say what you think, articulate to make what you say understandable, and thoughtful and clever to make it worth reading. If this is your 'weirdo self', the façade must be terrifying! .
Clare

ps. Irony is tough. It doesn't help that the definition that Jem and I were give nat an impressionalbe age was that it was 'like goldy an coppery only made of iron.'

Jem,

Hello extremely BORING person!

In fact, only haven't replied to you sooner as have been quite busy today HAVING A LIFE. Of sorts. At any rate, it left me with very little time to respond until now.

The lie you told your mother seems like a 'self-defence' lie. I mean, you could have told her the truth. But would that have helped the situation in any way since you say your parents don't like you reading novels? (very weird that! of course I believe you, but it's still f**king weird)

It turns out that we all tell lies from time to time. I think the only BAD lies are ones that affect people in a negative way. And often what we call 'lies' are more often just not saying the entire truth. Being tactful, let's say?

When I was young and green and fresh I used to think that total honesty was always the best policy. Have since revised that notion. Discovered that most people don't actually want to know 'the total honest truth'. Personally, I think I'd much rather that people were always totally honest with me. Makes me feel more secure somehow. But since I now know that most people are all just a pack of liers! (ha ha?) I find I have to take so much of what is actually said to me with more than a grain of salt.

You English are quite the experts at lying I think. The writer John Fowles once described the English as 'born with masks and bred to lie'. Me? I am (or was) quite an honestly outspoken Canadian person who, whilst spending a couple of years living in Bristol, found out the hard way that one should almost *never* say what is actually on one's mind. After sticking my foot in it several times and after also alienating several people, a friend took me aside and explained that, unless one was born and grew up in England, that one could never understand the subtleties of the game rules, in what one was 'allowed' to say. She tried giving me many examples of what I *should* say in various circumstances, but in the end I just thought it was more trouble than it was worth. And then I moved to Spain. Where people are in general not so bothered about this sort of thing. In fact, most Spanish people I know think I am quite funny and ironic and are not insecure if I challenge them with, like, a thought or opinion that might not normally be deemed as 'acceptable'.

In fact, sometimes the Spanish are quite brutally honest. But even though I have felt stung a couple of times by this, I much prefer it to always wondering what somebody actually meant. I would always prefer to know exactly where I stand with people and cannot stand absurd amounts of so-called 'politeness' which leaves you never knowing this. John Fowles also wrote once - 'The English are often so polite that they are rude'. And during my stay in Bristol I often found this to be true.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not bashing the English. It's just that in Canada people are much more free with their opinions. And also here in Spain. And that ends up being the situation that I personally feel more comfortable with.

Hey, have I rambled on enough already? I think so.

bye!
az

hi Clare,

<>



In fact, the facade is the least scary thing as it is my 'public face' specifically designed not to scare anybody at all in any way. Bit of a b**ger keeping it up though.

No, you guys get my total weirdo self, warts and all.

Lucky you!

az

They're nice warts!