Welcome to flutherville, @peanut – would you elaborate a little more about as to why you asked this particular question? What has brought it on?
Lying is to tell an untruth, knowingly – it is to deceive – right?
To pretend can be a whole bunch of things: You can pretend to care about something, and grow to actually care in time. You can pretend to be a clown for your 4 year old brother’s birthday… yes, there are similarities – but lying I think is the grown up version of pretend – which is still harmless – for the most part.
What do you think?