Lies, Quotes, and Shoes

You may have heard that Truman quote about political life "If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog." It's a great line, but Truman never said it. However, a fictional Truman said it in a play, apparently. This great article tracks down some famous but fictional quotes from well known historical figures. Sadly, Edmund Burke did not say "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." Nor did Mark Twain say "A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes," though in our Internet age, it's certainly true. It's also the case that unfortunately in our Internet age, a falsehood is likely to persist, even it's retracted from its original source. Try using a search engine to find pages about health care reform and so called "death panels," for instance. There are plenty of claims, but health care reform in any form, as it was passed in Congress, or as it was originally proposed, never contained any such reference.

Liespotting

Ah, election season, not the best time of the year for truth. Now that the mailers and calls have stopped coming, have a look at this page that discusses lies in the business setting. Many of the cues that you will have to lies come from nonverbal communication, such as licking of lips, lowered voice, and frozen upper body. There are also cues in the words, though, such as unnecessary details, and lack of contractions ("did not" instead of "didn't") or distancing language.