62 People That Thought They Got Away With Their Lies, But Their Audience Was Just Pretending

The social "I'm fine" is perhaps the most universally deployed piece of obvious fiction in daily life, understood by both parties to mean anything from "I am functional" to "I am absolutely not fine but this is not the time or the person."

Research from the Mental Health Foundation found that 60% of people say they are fine when they are not, and that the habit is so ingrained that most people do it automatically before they have consciously decided to. The person asking "how are you?" is also frequently not prepared for an honest answer, which means the exchange is a mutual performance that both sides have agreed to without ever discussing the terms.

The surprising thing about obvious lies is how necessary they turn out to be. Psychologists at the University of Massachusetts found that complete honesty in social interactions would make them significantly shorter, considerably more uncomfortable, and far less likely to be repeated.

The social lie, the corporate fiction, the "I'm nearly there" text, all of them are load-bearing elements of a functioning social world that would look quite different without them. This does not make them true. It just makes them useful, which is apparently enough for most of us to keep accepting them with a straight face and absolutely no follow-up questions.

Which one of these lies are you most guilty of? Tell the truth for once in the comments!