The definition of a white lie varies depending on who you ask, but as Dr. Christian L. Hart, a professor of psychology at Texas Woman's University, points out, it usually refers to a rather small and inconsequential matter that's pretty much harmless to others.
But even if we don't have any sinister intentions and just want to maintain polite social manners and courtesies, dishonesty can lead to unexpectedly grave consequences.
So when Reddit user Drizzho asked everyone on the platform to describe a time their "little" lie backfired on them, people recalled many memorable stories. Continue scrolling to check them out, and don't miss the conversations we had with Dr. Hart and the author of the post.
#1
I ruined a library book when I was 5 and thought gum worked like Silly Putty. I hid it between my mattress and box spring and lied to my mother and the librarian for about 3 months before I couldn't take the guilt and brought it to my mom while crying. She made me take it to the library and fess up.
It wasn't until I was an adult that I realized: my mom changed my sheets once a week and had to have seen the hidden book and was just waiting on me to tell the truth. :)
Also, I grew up and became a librarian.
Image credits: RBLibrarian
Drizzho told Bored Panda they came up with the idea to ask Redditors this question when analyzing their own behavior. "I was thinking about a white lie I told as a child that backfired on me maybe a year later," they explained.
But ultimately, "Lying is normal. Though most people don't tell any lies on a given day, when we track people's lying over time, we find that over a three-month span, 99% of them report lying," psychologist and co-author of 'Big Liars' Dr. Christian L. Hart also told Bored Panda.
#2
I once made a Valentine's Day card for my step dad from a secret admirer with a fake kiss that I used my classmate's lips as a model for. I left it on his side of the bed.
It did not go well.
Turns out he was a habitual cheater.
hahaha.
Image credits: revjor
#3
Not sure if it's a lie, but in a big state-wide exam day in the 3rd grade the teachers said if you finished your test you go to recess for the rest of the day. I filled in random answers so fast and had the best day ever.
The test results came back and I was put into special needs classes for 4th and 5th grade before anyone realized I wasn't developmentally disabled.
Image credits: hamletreset
For example, a study of 1,000 Americans published in 2010 discovered that 59.9% claimed not to have told a single lie in the 24 hours prior, and of those who confessed to lying, most said they'd told very few.
In total, 1,646 lies were reported; however, half of them came from just 5.3% of the participants. This illustrates Dr. Hart's sentiment and highlights that lying is usually rare, except in a small group of prolific liars. Since the paper was released, its findings have been replicated numerous times.
It also appears that changing conditions don't add too much variance. Research by David Markowitz from the University of Oregon showed that people seem to lie systematically, and whether the communication is happening face-to-face, via email, social media, texting, video chat, or phone, the rates are very similar — between 7.8 and 12.3 percent.
#4
My parents told me I clicked my tongue in my sleep so that when I pretended to be asleep I would click my tongue and they’d know I was awake.
Image credits: AcademicNose7
#5
I wrote my sister’s name on the closet wall in crayon. I told Mom and tried to frame her. She said my sister can’t write yet. I still remember how stupid I felt for pulling that stunt. But it makes me smile, remembering. I will have to ask Mom if she remembered that. I noticed years later, she never painted over it.
Image credits: anon
"Many people report that the purpose of their lie is innocent or benign," Dr. Hart told us. "They lie to spare someone's feelings, to spare themselves from embarrassment, or just as a matter of convenience."
"Their lies are not intended to take advantage of anyone. Only a minority of lies are told for malevolent reasons."
#6
I signed a permission slip “My Mom”. Didn’t go over well with my teacher or my mom.
Image credits: 2legittoquit
#7
When I was a freshman in high school the athletes wore letterman jackets. I don’t know if they still wear them today so if you never heard of them they are jackets with the school’s colors and insignia or initials of the school. They also would have badges to show if you were on the football team, baseball team, etc. To me they were like superhero uniforms. I envied anyone that wore them. My sister happened to be dating one of the guys on the football team and he owned one. One day I came home and I saw it lying on her bed. The girls sometimes wore them to show they were dating the guys. She wasn’t home. I immediately tried it on and looked at myself in the mirror. But that wasn’t good enough for me. I got my bike and rode down to the mall and walked around wearing it. I felt so cool. After awhile I biked back home and to my horror the guy’s car was in our driveway. I knew this was going to be bad. The only thing I could think of was to stash the jacket in the garage. I walked in and my sister immediately started freaking out. “WHERE IS IT? WHERE IS IT?“ My mom, the boyfriend and her were all standing in the living room. I knew I was busted so I walked into the garage and handed it to her. She inspected it like I tried to set it on fire all the while continuing to shriek “I TOLD YOU. I TOLD YOU IT WAS HIM.“ I felt humiliated. After it all died down I was sitting in my room with my head down. The boyfriend stuck his head in and said “Hey man, you can wear the jacket if you want. Just don’t lose it, OK?” That only made me feel like a bigger idiot.
Image credits: Friend-of-thee-court
Drizzho thinks we shouldn't write someone off if we catch them in a "little" lie, as sometimes we do so even if we're talking about the most trivial things. Especially children.
Dr. Hart agrees. "Since we know that everyone lies from time to time, we should probably continue to trust people whose lies we detect," the psychologist said, reiterating that it's the intent we should be aware of.
"If we notice that someone is lying a lot or if their lies are selfish and malevolent, we should probably reconsider whether they deserve our trust."
#8
When I was elementary school age, my parents left me home alone while they went to pick up my sister from a school event. I thought it would be funny to prank 911. I called and said “There’s an escaped murderer in my house!” and hung up, laughing at my funny joke. I got an immediate call back. I panicked and answered the phone and hung up. They called back. So I tried to unplug the landline.
Just as the police were pulling up, my parents pulled up too. The police pulled a gun on my dad and made him prove he lived there. I was so scared of getting in trouble, I made up a story that a man knocked on the door and tried to force his way in. I told them it was a white man with a dark beard and he ran off in the cornfield. I don’t think my parents ever knew I made it all up.
The next day, the Oklahoma City bombing happened and I thought it was God punishing people because he was mad at what I did.
Image credits: Skr000
#9
During a field trip in 5th grade I lied and said I saw a mountain lion on top of the hill.
Everybody turned around and said, "Oh yeah I see it! It's right there!
I couldn't see s**t.
To this day I'm not sure if they really did see one or if they were all just f*****g with me.
Image credits: HurricaneHugo
So if no one got hurt and the person you caught lying wasn't trying to affect your life in any negative way, perhaps it's best to just move past it. After all, we'd like others to do the same for us, too.
Signing off, Drizzho also asked if we could help and add a link to their cat's medical fundraiser, so if you want to read up on three-year-old Apollo's condition, visit the boy's GoFundMe here.
#10
Told my kindergarten teacher that my mom was "going to have a baby." Not sure why. My mom volunteered at the school so when she came in a few days later, my teacher hugged her all excitedly and went "congratulations!" She had even gotten my mom a card and everything.
It was really awkward when my mom was super confused and then had to explain to my teacher that she wasn't really pregnant.
Image credits: princessedaisy
#11
I forgot my keys and got locked out of the house in like seventh grade, Usually I'd just wait on the porch, read and do my homework because locked myself out at least twice a month, but it was a long day and I was tired, so I donkey kicked the door.
When my mom and stepdad came home they asked why the door was broken and I said I didn't know, it was like that when I got home..So they called the police and the police matched my shoe to the shoe print.
luckily I was generally a good kid and wasn't one for lying, so I just got yelled at a bit,.
Image credits: MarshmallowFloofs85
#12
I was playing with the the TV remote control and dropped it and broke it. Then instead of leaving the place I put the broken remote on the corner table and stood in front of it and told everyone passing by, "Nothing's wrong here.".
Image credits: SuvenPan
#13
Oof. Not me, but I remember a kid lied that his parents had died for some reason in middle school. Everyone believed it until his dad miraculously appeared very much alive and told people his mom was alive too.
The following month, his dad died in a car accident. A month after that, his mom died of a d**g overdose.
That s**t still gives me the chills.
#14
I lied to my whole grade and said I got a girl pregnant in 7th grade and I have a son
Image credits: anon
#15
I pretended to be blind for a day. I fooled three doctors until I got some fancy test that proved me wrong. My family was PISSED. I wanted glasses because I thought they looked cool.
Image credits: anon
#16
I pooped in the dog outhouse when I was 8
Tried to blame the dog
Yeah no, my mom doesn’t think the dog poops where he rests.
Image credits: Kalaydowscoop
#17
In fifth grade I wasn’t doing my homework and I got home from school one day to my mom and mamaw sitting in the living room with serious looks on their face. My mom told me to sit down and said that the school called and told them that I hadn’t been turning in my work. I instantly started crying and said that I had been turning in my work, just not my homework.
They would always ask if I was doing my homework and I’d say yes even thought I wasn’t.
My mom said,”Okay, well you better start doing it.” And then proceeded to tell me that the school never called, she just knew I hadn’t been doing my work.
Another time when I was fifteen my mom told me to fold the fitted sheets and I said that I would. I thought she was on the back porch so I just shoved them into the storage container and she was sitting right behind me watching me lol.
Image credits: RandomLurker04
#18
I said I had a girlfriend at a different school, one of the kids mum was a teacher there and confirmed they didn't exist. Little a*****e hated me, god it was embarrassing.
Image credits: unlikemike123
#19
I had an eye appointment in grade 2 and I told my teacher my vision was so amazing that the eye doctor said I had 40/40 vision. It was actually 20/20, but I fibbed and thought 40/40 sounded better.
She made me read the next chapter of the book in front of the whole class because I had excellent vision.
Image credits: 19VWGTI
#20
When I was in 4th grade, I did poorly on a math test and had to get it signed by a parent. My solution was to sign my dad’s name in blue crayon. I got grounded.
Image credits: BurghFinsFan
#21
I pretended I couldn't talk for fun at my new school, and my parents had to come to the school to prove I could talk.
Image credits: anon
#22
When I was in kindergarten I saw this book I really liked and stole it. During the ride home I lied to my mom that it was given to me by a friend. She bought it *until* my sister who was sitting next to me in the car took the book to look at it and then read, out loud, "Property of **the school I went to**" I got in BIG trouble after that and had to go back to school just to give it back.
Image credits: VisitSecure
#23
At Christmas it was customary for the 3 kids to come down to see Santa had laid out 3 piles one for each kid. one year we came down and the middle aged kid's pile was extremely huge compared to the other 2 kids. Dad said, hmm, something isn't right here, and he fixed the pile. The middle kids was crying, "How can you know? You can't know that!" That's when he and I realized Santa wasn't real.
Image credits: OneAndOnlyJoeseki
#24
I was 5, my sister 6, our brother was 2 or 3. my dad had money (I assumed pocket change, turns out different bills mean different things and it was rent and bills, a couple grand) sitting up on the mantle of the fireplace. I spotted it, decided to nab it because I could reach it, and I was taught that money is everything growing up. Upon holding this money I realized that we were about to leave for school and my dad would walk into the living room any second and see it was missing, and he was abusive so this was a real issue, I was scared I'd get caught putting it back, so instead I shoved it into my brother's backpack (I'm special so our dad only hit me, never raised a finger at the others) and called it a day. A minute later my dad comes bursting outside to where we're waiting for him losing his mind that this money is missing (looking back rightfully so, he was paying rent after dropping us off) and freaking out at us because obviously it was one of us. He checks our pockets- nothing. Onto the backpacks- here I'm thinking I'm an absolute genius, Einstein type s**t, I'm golden. Checks my bag- nothing, checks my sisters- nothing, checks my brothers- surprise surprise! He finds the money and turns to me and my sister, looking even more angry- I'd made a fatal mistake. You see, while I was tall enough to reach the top of the mantle, my two year old brother was definitely not, oops. Anyways cue more yelling 'IM GONNA FIGURE OUT WHICH ONE OF YOU F*****S TRIED STEALING FROM ME BAH BAH BAH' and he takes us to school, about a week later I broke down crying from guilt and admitted that I stole it to my aunt. If the beating I got wasn't enough I was branded as a liar and a thief by my dad, and then there was just one more reason for him to hate me. Looking back I see this as a pretty funny story, but I had a kinda f****d up childhood so I guess it's up to you to decide if this is funny or sad lol.
#25
When I was younger, I started pretending that I was a really heavy sleeper so that when my parents tried to wake me up, I could get a couple more minutes. Now I can't stop because they'll think something's up.
Image credits: anon
#26
One afternoon I went to a friend's house from the bus stop instead of going home after school. I was in kindergarten. The friend's mom asked me if my parents knew I was there, and I said "yeah of course, we planned this since last week". My parents had no idea where I was and called the police. Cue the town-wide manhunt until a neighbor that was friends with my parents spotted me and called them. I got my a*s handed to me for that one.
Image credits: EddieRando21
#27
My wife has been telling people she’s 29 for the last 9 years. That’s gonna have to catch up with her eventually.
Image credits: HoPMiX
#28
A friend and I had plans to go to the mall together after school. A girl we knew asked if she could hang out with us that day (she didn't know we already had plans together) and neither of us really wanted to bring another person along, so we lied and said we were both busy.
Later at the mall, we were walking past the food court and ran into that same girl. She was there with her mom. We made eye contact and she called out to us "hey, remember when you guys said you were both busy and couldn't hang out with me?"
It was the most awkward thing ever and I felt really guilty. After that I learned not to tell lies like that, because there is a big chance of them backfiring and hurting someone's feelings.
#29
I was about 11 or 12 and my best friends introduced me to some neighbors as british. They asked where I was from and I said Nottingham as it was the only british place I could come up with quickly. I was committed to it and used what was probably the worst british accent ever for several years until they thankfully moved. I would give anything to have a recording of my fake accent. I imagine it was somewhere between Costner’s Robinhood and D**k Van Dyke’s chimney sweep.
Image credits: emanmodnara
#30
I told my boyfriend (now husband) that the shop didn't have any twix bars (I forgot to get it). He later went down to the shop and of course they had them. 23 years later and he still hasn't forgotten about it ???.
#31
My son threw up in school. We got call saying he wasn’t feeling good, so I went over to get him.
At home, still sick. I took him to the pediatrician because he just looked ill. Sent blood work, swabbed throat, did a decent work up. Nothing showed up, except eventually huge bills because we hadn’t met our deductible. He was much better the next day or so.
A few days later my wife and I were staring at him at dinner and noticed his bangs looked crooked. We looked at each other and started to ask him questions. Waterworks ensued, along with the truth.
He was in art class and cut a decent bit of hair off. He said his hair was in his eyes. About that time the teacher walked by, and to dispose of the evidence he ate his hair. He gagged but got it down. Then puked more later.
tl;dr My son got an expensive medical work up because he ate his own hair to hide the fact that he cut his own hair in class.
#32
I used to like dropping eggs on the floor because I thought it was satisfying, so I dropped 3 eggs on the ground one day and blamed it on my little sister. I thought it would work since she’s a troublemaker, but there was egg whites on my hands.
Image credits: Cosmic_Lemon123
#33
I had a sister that was a year older. My mother made it a competition on who could get dressed and ready for school faster. My sister always won. One night after I went to bed I got up and dressed in my school clothes and went back to sleep. I rushed out in the morning and my sister was still in her room. I was so happy. My mother asked me if I slept in my clothes. I said no. She told me to go look in the mirror.
#34
Saw a little girl at school get a lollipop because it was her birthday, lied and told them it was also my birthday because I wanted a lollipop. It worked, no-one bothered to check. Told my mum because I didn't think it was a big deal and she went ballistic. Had to go in the next day and tell them it wasn't my birthday and apologize.
Image credits: 9minicupcakes
#35
I was 12. I told my mom I was going to be staying at my Friend Eric's house and got her to give me a ride there and she was going to pick me up the next morning.
I actually hung out at Eric's for an hour then went to meet with my girlfriend in the woods behind her house. She was going to tell her parents she felt like camping and set up a tent out there for us to spend the night together.
Well torrential rain storm happened soaking through the crappy Walmart tent. She went in her house. I hid in her garage then walked to Erics house the next morning soaked to wait for my Mom.
#36
My younger sister was in the grade under me from Elementary thru to High school.
anytime I tried to lie about something, all my friends would just go ask her.
I couldn't get away with anything.
Image credits: TrailerParkPrepper
#37
I borrowed (stole) my dad's debit card to get $10 late one night when I was 16ish. Put it right back on top of the coffee maker, where he had put it, but didn't realize it fell. I told them I didn't see it bc I didn't want to admit to taking out money without asking.
I had to confess when they went to the bank after learning it was used. The bank was going to pull video and police were notified of possible theft. Felt like such a d**k because I knew if I just said I took it for $10 they wouldn't have cared.
#38
I convinced my friend when we met years ago that I was the Gerber baby. We ended up dating for a while, and he told all his friends that he was dating the original Gerber baby. It wasn’t until last year it came up, and I told him it was all bullshit. He was legitimately shocked.
#39
One time, some kids were making fun of me for having a unibrow, so I went home and tried shaving it off. I accidentally went a little too far on one eyebrow than the other, so I tried to even it out but ended up shaving off my eyebrow completely. I knew that if kids were making fun of me for having a unibrow, they would rip me apart for having no eyebrows. I threw a bandaid over my shaved-off eyebrow and started telling people I got punched and had to get stitches. The next thing I know, I am in the principal's office. I had to take my bandaid off and show him that I wasn’t getting beat up at school. It was super embarrassing. But, I still had to keep my lies to my classmates. In hindsight, I doubt anyone believed me.
Image credits: anon
#40
When I was 8, I lived down a gravel road that was about 1/2 mile. We had a turnaround loop for the bus so the bus would come down the gravel road to pick me up. The older kids on the bus hated this. In the afternoons they would corner me and tell me it was my fault that their bus ride home was longer than it should be because I should walk out to the main road instead. Fast forward to a day that we had a substitute driver. I told the driver that the bus takes me down the gravel road to my house. The older kids immediately jumped up and told the driver I was lying. They were all screaming. I being a child started crying. The driver felt bad and took me down the road. My parents came home later and could tell I was upset. As I was telling the story, they just assumed the driver didn’t take me down the road and I couldn’t help but let them believe it because of all the support I was receiving. I never dreamed they would call the school board. I had to come clean so the substitute driver wouldn’t get fired.
Image credits: theonlyhonez
#41
My parents had just gotten me a brand new phone. A few days after getting it, I took it out of my backpack at school and was horrified to find a huge crack across the screen. I wasn't sure how it happened, but it was probably just from being jostled around in my backpack.
The phone still worked, but I was so scared I was going to get in trouble for cracking the screen. I tried my best to hide it, but my mom noticed it a few days later and demanded to know what happened. In a moment of panic, I lied and said my teacher had taken away all of our phones before a standardized test (which was actually true, we'd done standardized testing a week or so ago and had to turn in our phones) and when I got it back, it was cracked. I thought she would accept that answer and it would be over with.
But no, my mom freaked out, demanded to know what teacher it was, and then started *calling the school* to ask to speak to them about it. As she was dialing the number, I broke down and confessed that I actually just found it cracked and that my teacher had nothing to do with it.
She was angrier at me for lying than she was about the broken phone screen. Really learned my lesson that day.
#42
I tried to write an excuse to leave school for the day at lunch, from my “parents”
I was in first grade, I wrote it in orange crayon, and signed it “Keepcalmdude’s dad”
Needless to say it didn’t work.
#43
My sister once kicked me in the face and we panicked and agreed not to tell our parents. The next day I woke up with a huge black eye and swore down I didn’t know how I’d gotten it….teacher called social services ? I still swore no one touched me so ended up getting a CAT scan and it was put down to sinus issues.
#44
Not me, but my brother. Our grandmother died on September 11th. After the attacks, he told his teacher at school about her. The school called my parents to extend their condolences.
She died on September 11th a decade earlier.
#45
When I was in elementary school, someone dropped some Pokemon cards on the floor during latchkey and I pocketed them. I guess someone saw me and told him.
When I later got confronted by the teacher and the kid's dad, I denied it and they made me empty my pockets.
The dad looked at me like I was the biggest piece of s**t on the planet.
Image credits: xmrlazyx
#46
I lied that we went swimming in a lake when my aunt asked what we did when we had a trip on a Sunday.. just when I told her that to brag how fun it was swimming, she asked my dad right in front of me and he said we did not in fact go swimming that day. I was so embarrassed lol.
#47
When I was in fourth grade I wanted to take the accelerated reader test for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire after checking it out and not reading it. My teacher stopped me at first and asked if I had read it and I said yes because I thought that seeing the movie was good enough. I took the test and failed fantastically. It being a larger book meant that it was heavily weighted in AR points.
My teacher called me out in front of my entire class for bringing our class average down. I had to admit that I had only watched the movie and I was kinda given a brow beating by everyone. My teacher essentially told everyone that we now could not win the pizza party movie day because doctacola ruined it for everyone. Now that I’m an adult, I would have handled that differently than she did haha.
#48
Trying to beg off of an invitation because “I’m allergic to pizza.”
E: I don’t remember many specifics. I was maybe 7 and this was long ago.
#49
I said my uncle was a star in Algeria?.
