Just as sure as the sun will rise in the east and cheap shoes will give you corns on your pinky toes (be careful, ladies), men will lie when caught in a tight situation—and often even if there’s no situation at all. The sad part is that grown men feel that they have to lie in the first place, and the sadder part is that women are put in the precarious predicament of trying to spot a lie. However, there is some good news. Not only are women smarter than men, but they’re also better liars than their masculine counterparts and, thus, more astute at recognizing a bald-faced lie when it rears its ugly head. Sharpen your skills by looking over the following twenty-one signs that your guy may be cooking up a lie.
(Note: Trust your instinct—your factual evidence of behavior mixed with internal suspicion. If you have sincere reason to believe that your guy is telling a lie, he probably is. But don’t spend the rest of your life collecting evidence that seldom leads to truthful confessions. Be prepared to make a change based on the new reality.)
- 1. If he begins the conversation with statements like “I could lie but…” “The truth is that…,” or the infamous “What happened was…”
- 2. Silence.
- 3. A sudden desire to go to the bathroom or leave abruptly.
- 4. A slight chuckle.
- 5. Unexplainable sweat on his forehead, underarms, or chest.
- 6. His story is too elaborate—includes lots of friends, twists, and ridiculous situations.
- 7. He gets defensive and tries to turn things around on you.
- 8. It takes him longer than three seconds to answer you.
- 9. He asks you to repeat your question—he’s really trying to buy time to work on his lie.
- 10. He keeps asking you what you know—he’s trying to figure out what all he actually needs to confess to.
- 11. He volunteers a phone number for you to call to confirm his innocence—he expects you to either back down from making the call if it is another woman or he has his lie straight with the woman or his boys.
- 12. Strong defensiveness and anger followed by statements like, “I don’t know what you’re talking about” or “You need to trust me more and stop listening to your friends.”
- 13. Walking away or pacing the floor.
- 14. Constant obliviousness to what is going on in the conversation.
- 15. He keeps making you repeat yourself in order to convince you that you’re crazy.
- 16. He can’t look you in the eye.
- 17. Stuttering.
- 18. He wants to talk about something else.
- 19. Giving up answers when you haven’t asked any—he’s come up with such a good/believable lie that he just couldn’t let it go to waste.
- 20. Crying.
- 21. He’s lied many times in the past—once a liar, always a liar.