As a habit
When I was younger, in school up until the early years of university, I told a metric buttload of lies. Casual ones, big ones, sometimes to claim I knew what I was going on about, sometimes to keep up with a conversation, sometimes just to make me look better. One thing I frequently did was to tell cool stories I'd heard, from other people or off websites as my own, or as happening to people I know. Or, I'd add in details that didn't happen.

It became a habit. I didn't even think before I lied, to friends, family, work colleagues. Any moral qualms I had with it just vanished. I'm not so good at lying under pressure, and am as transparent as glass when confronted on a fib, but the casual throwaway lie became utterly trivial. This caused a problem because I also wasn't able to keep lies straight.

My point is that it's easy to start off with a few lies, nearly all of us do that and there's nothing wrong with a white lie here and there. But it's easier than you think to start telling more and more, and end up well, addicted to them. I managed to get myself out of the rut, but it wasn't easy. What I do nowadays is try to force myself to cite where I got the story from if it didn't happen to me. If I got it from b3ta, I say that this is a b3ta story. If I got it from elsewhere, I say so. If it actually happened to me, then I can tell it. I still have to keep myself from adding in extra details to make the stories cooler or more impressive. It's hard work, and it's not pleasant either - I'm really quite ashamed of how I was when I was younger. I'm still not 100% over the habit, but I do try.

For example, the story I posted in the Desperate Times QOTW about the dog was in essence true. But, the detail about him getting a haircut afterwards as revenge was added afterwards (sorry about that), because it made the story funnier and better.

Hate to be a downer, but it's a cautionary thing. I wasn't a pathological liar, I was just a normal guy who wanted to be more interesting and accepted, having the answers. Having lying becoming a habit rather than an exception is not as tricky as you think, and you can build quite a reputation for untruthfulness without even knowing it.
(calamarain just invented dehydrated water, Thu 29 Nov 2007, 13:01, 6 replies)

You win "Most honest liar ever'
My brother did this for years, he genuinely couldn't help it, and still does sometimes, most of the time to protect people from the truth or to stop my parents from being dissapointed in him. One of those "sad but true" things.

Well done you for fixing it!
( SugarSpunSister Yeah, whatever, Thu 29 Nov 2007, 13:25, closed)

This

(Mark3y needs to put some welly in to it, Thu 29 Nov 2007, 13:34, closed)

Query
Is a Metric Buttload equivalent to an Imperial Pocketful of lies?
( e.m.m.y. foxtrot uniform charlie kilo india tango, Thu 29 Nov 2007, 13:59, closed)

Thanks
I'm still not entirely over it. It's the little casual lies and the exaggerations in the conversation that I don't usually catch. After I've made them I think "I shouldn't have said that", but then I've got no choice but to carry on. I'm a lot better about citing sources for longer stories, but still definitely not perfect.

And since you asked, a Metric Buttload is 0.971 Imperial Pocketfuls of lies, so it's a little big less. Much much less than a Fuckton of lies though.
(calamarain just invented dehydrated water, Thu 29 Nov 2007, 14:22, closed)

You can tell all the lies you want on b3ta
That's what we're here for.
(Emily Bruce-Dickinson http://jovialfellow.blogspot.com/, Fri 30 Nov 2007, 10:19, closed)

Royalty
Thanks, Emily. That's exactly what the Queen said to me last Tuesday. She doesn't serve very good tea though.
(calamarain just invented dehydrated water, Fri 30 Nov 2007, 10:25, closed)