The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-01-30
WHAT is A LIE.

The following is from the report of the
testimony of a witness in the Clark brib-
cry case. now pending before a senatorial
committee:
I'm one of your letters you speak of
having received an offer of s, 600 from the
opposition to Mr.. Clark" said Mr. Birney
on redirect examination. WAS that
fact?"
mo sir" responded the witness. THAT
was a bluff"
This raises a question as to what con-
stitutes a lie. Simple as the question is,
it would doubtless evoke very different
answers from different persons according
to their information and relation to the
subject. Shakespeare makes Falstaff say.
Lord, how this world is giving to lying"
Probably the world is not very different
now from what 1t was in ShakspAre's
time. AS he makes another character say
"'Tis as easy as lying" there were
probably as many practitioners Of the art
then as there are now. The witness whose
testimony is quoted above was Montana
man, and the atmosphere in that region
is so deceiving that q person can almost
be excused for not being able to tell the
difference between a lie and the truth.
The same condition of atmosphere pre-
walls at times in all parts of the country,
though some persons are constitutionally
or temperamentally more affected by it
than others. Insanity experts say there is
a great deal more insanity in the world
fraao iy IL, hot
definition every departure, however
slight, from sanity. By the same rule, if
every departure from the truth, however
slight, is a lie, there is probably fully as
much lying in the world as there is truth
telling, and perhaps more. One trouble in
obtaining an exact popular definition of
what constitutes lie, is that so many
people are interested parties. No person
who lies habitually, frequently or even
occasionally is competent witness in the
case Such people become. as it were, color
blind. and do not know a lie when they
see it, unless it is of heroic size and very
strongly marked. They will not crimnate
themselves. The Montana man above
ne mao maze In
writing a statement which was not true,
but when asked if it was a fact he said
no, it was "a bluff He shrunk from say
ing it was lie, although he admitted
ii was not a fact, so he said 1t was
bluff. That is a much less harsh sounding
word than lie, and there is reason to be-
lieve, if 1T should be accepted as a syno-
nym for lie, that lying would become even
more common than it is now. Most men
would much rather be known as buffers
than as liars. Whether the various grades
and degrees of lies and the infinite shadings
of Misrepresentation, deception, duplicity,
evasion. society lies, business lies conven-
tional lies, ETC., could all be brought under
the term bluffing is doubtful, and the
merging of so many words in one would
tend to impoverish the language. Per-
haps as good a definition of lie as any
is that it is asserting or representing,
orally, in writing by signs, as true that
which the person knows to be untrue. from
culpable intention to deceive or mis-
lead. There is reason to fear that even
under this stringent definition great many
persons will continue to lie. The best
advice the Journal can give them is
Don't"