What is “truth”? What is a “lie”? At least one person here is so absolute on the concept of “fact” versus “not fact” that there is no variance allowed for language, custom, or human interaction.
”For me, it does NOT matter “what the lie is”. Lie to me & you automatically lose my TRUST!!! IF you’ll lie to me about the little crap…you’ll most definitely lie to me about the important stuff…A lie is a LIE!!!” This is absolute bullshit, @LadyMarissa.
I used to tend bar and be a cocktail waitress. I wore a wedding ring to work so I would not be harassed by the male customers. A “lie” by implication, but one that insured I was able to do my work efficiently and well.
I used to “lie” to my mother to end a phone conversation without rancor. I would tell her I had an appointment, so I had to go. I learned to do that, rather than tell her the truth, that I wanted to get off the phone now (without an obligation to another situation), because she would get agitated, then angry, and almost have a literal fit. As she was 90, I was not going to promote that.
I use discretion and educated judgement when telling a not-fact.
I understand that you may refuse to simply be kind to someone who needs a cheerful word in order to preserve some sense of absolute “right” you think you have, but you are dead wrong to judge others so harshly.