[Ads-l] lie

Sun Jun 9 00:57:13 UTC 2024

The book Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong, by James W. Loewen (1995), may be responsible for the popularization of this usage.  I have not read the book, but if I understand Loewen’s point, his argument actually was that the lies were those of the textbook authors (i.e., teachers were not necessarily lying).

John Baker

From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> On Behalf Of Jonathan Lighter
Sent: Saturday, June 8, 2024 8:42 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: lie

External Email - Think Before You Click

"Easy Latin Lessons" on YouTube, Lesson 38:

"Today's story contains a lie that you might have been taught in elementary
school....And maybe the lie will help you remember the new words better."

The so-called "lie" is the erroneous belief that educated people in 1492
thought the earth was flat.

JL

On Wed, Jun 5, 2024 at 7:28 AM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com<mailto:wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>>
wrote:

> "Thing You Were Lied to About Dinosaurs"
>
> Things You Were Lied to About Dinosaurs | Watch (msn.com)
> <https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/things-you-were-lied-to-about-dinosaurs/vi-BB1lncBZ?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=ACTS&cvid=70b8d7bef09142f58a0cd0a74953d779&ei=11<https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/things-you-were-lied-to-about-dinosaurs/vi-BB1lncBZ?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=ACTS&cvid=70b8d7bef09142f58a0cd0a74953d779&ei=11>>
>
> In this case the "lies" are "myths and misconceptions", e.g. "dinosaurs
> were green, scary monsters." (Great CGI, though.)
>
> JL
>
>
> On Tue, May 10, 2022 at 8:31 AM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com<mailto:wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>>
> wrote:
>
>>
>> https://news.yahoo.com/seismic-shift-fractures-evangelicals-arkansas-185525279.html<https://news.yahoo.com/seismic-shift-fractures-evangelicals-arkansas-185525279.html>
>> :
>>
>> “This mindset that Christianity and politics, and the preacher and
>> politics, need to be separate, that’s a lie,” he said.
>>
>> JL
>>
>> On Mon, Nov 15, 2021 at 8:30 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com<mailto:wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> https://www.yahoo.com/news/22-things-were-taught-school-064603650.html<https://www.yahoo.com/news/22-things-were-taught-school-064603650.html>
>>>
>>> "ROY G BIV Is A Lie, And 21 Other Fake 'Facts' Our Teachers Taught Us
>>> As Kids"
>>>
>>> JL
>>>
>>> On Sat, Oct 16, 2021 at 4:20 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com<mailto:wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Cf.:
>>>> https://www.yahoo.com/news/horses-cnn-contributor-slams-networks-161600893.html<https://www.yahoo.com/news/horses-cnn-contributor-slams-networks-161600893.html>
>>>> <https://www.yahoo.com/news/horses-cnn-contributor-slams-networks-161600893.html<https://www.yahoo.com/news/horses-cnn-contributor-slams-networks-161600893.html>>
>>>>
>>>> "would you say that when you’re talking about a drug that has been
>>>> given out to billions and billions of people?” Rogan asked Gupta. “A drug
>>>> that the inventors won a Nobel Prize in 2015, a drug that has been shown to
>>>> stop viral replication in vitro. You know that, right? Why would they lie
>>>> and say that’s horse dewormer? [...] Do you think that that's a problem
>>>> that your news network lies?"
>>>>
>>>> Ivermectin, the drug at issue, *is* a horse dewormer. The terminology
>>>> was complicated by the fact that it's also prescribed for parasitic river
>>>> blindness in humans. Rogan got a prescription for it (he doesn't have river
>>>> blindness).
>>>>
>>>> Said in passing by Don Lemon, the characterization "horse dewormer"
>>>> would more accurately be called a "misnomer" or even a "tendentious choice
>>>> of words."
>>>>
>>>> But nowadays it's a "lie."
>>>>
>>>> JL
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Thu, Sep 23, 2021 at 3:39 PM Mark Mandel <markamandel at gmail.com<mailto:markamandel at gmail.com>>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> They lie flat, as opposed to flat-out lying
>>>>>
>>>>> MAM. .
>>>>>
>>>>> On Thu, Sep 23, 2021, 1:03 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com
<mailto:wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com%0b>>>>>> >
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> > So you can't trust the inconstant moon either.
>>>>> >
>>>>> > I trust the flat-earthers. They have no reason to lie.
>>>>> >
>>>>> > JL
>>>>> >
>>>>> > On Thu, Sep 23, 2021 at 12:25 PM Mark Mandel <markamandel at gmail.com<mailto:markamandel at gmail.com>>
>>>>> > wrote:
>>>>> >
>>>>> > > Well, the Moon always lies *in the northern hemisphere*. In the
>>>>> Tropics
>>>>> > her
>>>>> > > path takes her through or near the zenith on her monthly apparent
>>>>> journey
>>>>> > > from east to west and the edge of the shadow is roughly parallel
>>>>> to that
>>>>> > > line, so it depends on which way you're facing. And in the southern
>>>>> > > hemisphere she tells the truth.
>>>>> > >
>>>>> > > Mark A. Mandel
>>>>> > >
>>>>> > >
>>>>> > > On Wed, Sep 22, 2021, 4:38 PM Laurence Horn <
>>>>> laurence.horn at yale.edu<mailto:laurence.horn at yale.edu>>
>>>>> > > wrote:
>>>>> > >
>>>>> > > > > On Sep 22, 2021, at 4:03 PM, Jonathan Lighter <
>>>>> > wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM<mailto:wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>>
>>>>> > > > wrote:
>>>>> > > > >
>>>>> > > > >
>>>>> https://www.yahoo.com/news/thought-knew-sun-color-lie-133422094.html<https://www.yahoo.com/news/thought-knew-sun-color-lie-133422094.html>
>>>>> > :
>>>>> > > > >
>>>>> > > > > What You Thought You Knew About the Sun’s Color Is a Lie
>>>>> > > > >
>>>>> > > > > (People say it's yellow, but it's really white. Liars!)
>>>>> > > > >
>>>>> > > > > JL
>>>>> > > >
>>>>> > > > I don’t know—from the write-up it looks like it’s the sun that's
>>>>> the
>>>>> > > > liar. I was told the moon always lies (it makes a capital D
>>>>> when it’s
>>>>> > > > crescent and a C when it’s decrescent), but apparently you can’t
>>>>> trust
>>>>> > > any
>>>>> > > > heavenly bodies. Or even Springsteen:
>>>>> > > >
>>>>> > > > The piss-yellow sun
>>>>> > > > Comes bringing up the day
>>>>> > > > She said "Ain't nobody can give nobody
>>>>> > > > What they really need anyway”
>>>>> > > > (“Dry Lightning”)
>>>>> > > >
>>>>> > > > Is nothing sacred?
>>>>> > > >
>>>>> > > > LH
>>>>> > > >
>>>>> > > >
>>>>> > > > >
>>>>> > > > > On Fri, Aug 13, 2021 at 10:19 AM Dan Goncharoff <
>>>>> thegonch at gmail.com<mailto:thegonch at gmail.com>>
>>>>> > > > wrote:
>>>>> > > > >
>>>>> > > > >> Interesting how one deals with opinions expressed as facts,
>>>>> > especially
>>>>> > > > when
>>>>> > > > >> they are found to be wrong later. Are they Schrodinger
>>>>> statements,
>>>>> > > only
>>>>> > > > >> found to be true or false once we "open the box"?
>>>>> > > > >>
>>>>> > > > >> On Fri, Aug 13, 2021, 10:05 AM Jonathan Lighter <
>>>>> > > wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com<mailto:wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
>>>>> > > > >
>>>>> > > > >> wrote:
>>>>> > > > >>
>>>>> > > > >>> 'any idea or statement that is untrue or that one disagrees
>>>>> with.'
>>>>> > > > >>>
>>>>> > > > >>> I've been hearing this a lot on cable news, though not from
>>>>> > > > journalists.
>>>>> > > > >>> Ex.:
>>>>> > > > >>>
>>>>> > > > >>> Quora.com: "Electrons absolutely positively do not whizz
>>>>> around
>>>>> > the
>>>>> > > > >>> nucleus of an atom. That idea is a lie-to-children, a
>>>>> > simplification
>>>>> > > > told
>>>>> > > > >>> [to] young kids in grade school."
>>>>> > > > >>>
>>>>> > > > >>> CNN: "Rugged individualism is a lie."
>>>>> > > > >>>
>>>>> > > > >>> Also v.:
>>>>> > > > >>>
>>>>> > > > >>> Protest sign seen on FOX News: "FAUCI LIED PEOPLE DIED"
>>>>> > > > >>>
>>>>> > > > >>> JL
>>>>> > > > >>>
>>>>> > > > >>> --
>>>>> > > > >>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't
>>>>> handle the
>>>>> > > > >> truth."
>>>>> > > > >>>
>>>>> > > > >>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>> > > > >>> The American Dialect Society -
>>>>> http://www.americandialect.org<http://www.americandialect.org>
>>>>> > > > >>>
>>>>> > > > >>
>>>>> > > > >> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>> > > > >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org<http://www.americandialect.org>
>>>>> > > > >>
>>>>> > > > >
>>>>> > > > >
>>>>> > > > > --
>>>>> > > > > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't
>>>>> handle the
>>>>> > > > truth."
>>>>> > > > >
>>>>> > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>> > > > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org<http://www.americandialect.org>
>>>>> > > >
>>>>> > > > ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>> > > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org<http://www.americandialect.org>
>>>>> > > >
>>>>> > >
>>>>> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org<http://www.americandialect.org>
>>>>> > >
>>>>> >
>>>>> >
>>>>> > --
>>>>> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
>>>>> truth."
>>>>> >
>>>>> > ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org<http://www.americandialect.org>
>>>>> >
>>>>>
>>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org<http://www.americandialect.org>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
>>>> truth."
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
>>> truth."
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
>> truth."
>>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>

--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org<http://www.americandialect.org>

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org