(with apologies to Alicorn)

I have begun to wonder whether the word "lie" is useful as an umbrella term covering many instances that do not resemble each other strongly.

This is particularly noticeable in marginal and edge cases, where it seems to me that people put a lot of weight and emphasis on particular statements and interpretations. I think it is often worth dissolving the question and tabooing the word (e.g. diagnosing situations as "this person messed up here and here, that person is likely to be untrustworthy in the future, the third person is probably in the ethical clear but doesn't communicate clearly" or whatever.) 

I don't expect anyone who reads this post to find all of these examples ambiguous, but I think probably some of them will seem so. They get weird in places. I ran out of letters of the alphabet before I ran out of ways to make the concept of a lie confusing, so feel free to add more ideas.

As you're going along, I suggest keeping a notepad open and given your answers. "Yes" or "no" is fine, don't feel like you need to write a lot.

1. Bob is on the couch watching TV. Alice asks Bob to get off the couch and turn the TV off, and Bob says "I will in a couple seconds." This is possible to do in a couple seconds. Bob takes about a hundred and twenty seconds to turn the TV off and get up. Did Bob lie?

2. Alice asks Bob to finish moving the couch into the living room then come to the kitchen, and Bob says "I'll be there in a couple seconds." This is not really possible to do in a couple seconds. Bob takes about a hundred and twenty seconds to get to the kitchen. Did Bob lie?

3. Alice asks Bob to come from the living room to the kitchen, and Bob says "I'll be there soon." Bob takes about three minutes to get to the kitchen. Did Bob lie?

4. Alice asks Bob to come from the living room to the kitchen, and Bob says "I'll be there in a second." Bob finishes the game of Risk he was playing with some friends and then goes to the kitchen, which takes another hour. Did Bob lie?

5. Caleb recently read a book about space, and the book incorrectly said that the moon is about 240 miles from the earth. Caleb tells Debbie the incorrect 240 miles fact. Did Caleb lie?

6. Same as above, but Caleb is an astronomer and is pretty sure the book is wrong. 

7. Caleb is an amateur who recently read a book about space, and the book correctly said the moon is about 240,000 miles from earth but Caleb really wasn't paying much attention. Caleb tells Doug that the moon is about 240 miles from earth. Did Caleb lie?

8. Same as 7, but Caleb said "I remember reading in a book that the moon is about 240 miles from earth." Did Caleb lie?

9. The book was wrong, Caleb is an astronomer who knows better, and he was paying attention enough to catch the error. Caleb says "I remember reading in a book that the moon is about 240 miles from earth." Did Caleb lie?

10. Elise and Frank work together. Elise is Frank 's boss, and Frank is an engineer. Elise asks when Frank will be finished with an important project, and Frank says "By the end of March." The project is not done by halfway through April. Did Frank lie?

11. Same as above, but Frank claims he meant March of next year, not this year. The project is done by March of next year.

12. Same as 10, but halfway through March Elise tells Frank there's a more important project that just came in, drop everything to work on that, and Frank does.

13. Same as 10, but Frank has been tracking his estimations and is aware that projects usually take three or four times as long as the initial estimate. He has not adjusted his estimates to account for this. 

14. George writes "He got it all right. Okay, not literally all, he got this and that and the other thing wrong." Is George lying in that first sentence? 

15. Harriet quotes George, specifically just the line "He got it all right" with no further part of the quote, then talks about how George is totally wrong, here's all the things that weren't right, George must be lying or an idiot. Is Harriet lying?

16. George and Harriet are moderators of a subreddit, they get in an argument, and George says he'll step away from moderating if Harriet does. Harriet reports to the other mods that George said he'd step away from moderating, so the problem should be settled. Is Harriet lying?

17. Isabelle cooks dinner for John. It’s mediocre. John, out of appreciation for the work Isabelle did in cooking it, says it’s great, thank you so much. Is John lying?

18. Same as 17, but John is a professional food critic and Isabelle was really looking for some useful feedback.

19. Same as 17, but the food isn’t mediocre, it’s terrible. 

20. Same as 17, but Isabelle understands that John is saying it out of politeness and knows if he actually liked it he would have said he loved it and asked for the recipe. She’s correct, that’s what he would have said.

21. Kriss is a fiction author. He writes a story about space wizards, and says in the story it took place a long time ago in a galaxy far far away. Is he lying?

22. Same as 21, but the story is about a suburban family, is told in first person, uses real details from the author’s life such as his religion and the town he lives in, and no obviously fictional elements appear until halfway through the book. When they do appear the fictional elements are very obviously fictional, like zombies rising from the grave.

23. Same as 22, but the fictional elements are actually plausible like a child getting hit by a car and the parents having to deal with the grief.

24. Same as 23, but this piece isn't clearly labeled as fiction or nonfiction. (It's a blog post on a blog that sometimes does fiction and sometimes does nonfiction, or article in a magazine that publishes both.)

25. Leah says “I helped organize that big conference” meaning that they sent a couple emails to committee and volunteered for an hour or two to help put chairs away afterwards. Others, listening, assume Leah was a larger participant than they actually were, and Leah doesn’t clarify. Did Leah lie?

26. Morgan, who knows exactly how involved Leah was, says “No you didn’t” in response to Leah’s statement. Did Morgan lie?

27. Nancy and Omar are stuck in traffic. Nancy rolls her eyes and says “I love driving in Boston, it’s so fast,” with heavy sarcasm in her voice. It is not actually fast to drive in Boston. Omar, who is six, believes her. Did Nancy lie?

28. Same as 27, but Omar is twenty-six and just kind of bad at noticing sarcasm. 

29. Same as 28, but Nancy does it in a normal tone of voice and without the eye roll.

30. Same as 29, but it’s April Fools day.

31. Peter and Rebecca are stuck in traffic. Peter gets frustrated and says “Urgh, I swear nobody in Boston can drive.” Did Peter lie?

32. Rebecca is trying to give directions. She points out a turn to Peter, saying “I’m a hundred percent sure that’s the right turn.” It’s not, but she was very sure of herself. Did Rebecca lie?

33. As with 32, but Rebecca is a good rationalist who knows that 0 and 1 are not probabilities.

34. Samuel is a schoolteacher, and preaches the virtue of honesty and hard work. He tells his students it's the best way to get a good life. He secretly lies to his husband about doing the yardwork and plays videogames instead. Is Samuel lying to his students?

35. Tammy is a professional poker player. She tells her friends about how to see good spots and about what the odds are in a poker game, and advises them not to deviate from playing by the numbers. One day, Tammy goes against the textbook plays on a hunch someone else is bluffing. Was Tammy lying to her friends?  

36. Urist is dating a woman, and he says after a month or two that she’s the most beautiful woman in the world, and that he’ll love her forever. Six months later, they’ve broken up, and Urist no longer agrees with those statements. Did he lie?

37. Urist is dating a woman, and after three years they get married. He says at the altar in front of both their families and a priest of their religion that he takes her as his wife to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for richer and poorer. Five years after that, they’ve divorced, and Urist no longer wants to have anything to do with her. Did he lie? 

38. Urist is dating a man. They live in the United States in 2001, where gay couples can’t get legally married but can get the same benefits through a civil union. Urist and his partner say at an altar in front of both their families and a priest of their religion that they take each other as husbands to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer. They live together in a house where both their names are on the deed. Other than the legal distinction and the gender of the two, Urist behaves like a traditional married couple. In conversation, Urist says that he’s married. Did he lie?

39. It’s 2025 and gay marriage is legal in the US. Urist got drunk and married a man in Vegas he’d just met, with no vows and only the barest bit of paperwork or ceremony. The next morning, filled with regrets, he’s on his way to get divorced. Standing in line to do just that, he says in conversation that he’s married. Did Urist lie?

40. Winson puts a gun to Yara's head, cocks it, and whispers that Yara needs to call Victor on the phone and say everything's fine. Yara obeys. Did Yara lie?

41. As 40 but Winson wasn’t willing to commit murder. The gun wasn’t even loaded, though it was a real gun. Did Winson somehow lie by using the gun, implying something he wasn’t going to do?

42. Zachary is writing an essay that’s mostly a collection of hypothetical ways people can lie. Zachary said at the beginning that they ran out of letters in the alphabet before running out of ways people could say false things, but actually Zachary was one short, then had to wrack their brains to finish out the alphabet. Did Zachary lie?

43. As 42, but the thing Zachary actually said was “ways to make the concept of a lie confusing”, not “ways people could say false things”, and just wants to mess with the readers a little. He explains (albeit via a hypothetical example) that he didn’t actually say “ways people could say false things” so hopefully nobody is confused, though the hypothetical example is kind of meta and possibly very confusing. Now did Zachary lie?

44. As 43, but this time Zachary is wearing a "Might be lying" sign as he writes the essay. Which of course nobody can see, because it's a written essay.

45. As 44, but this time Zachary includes a picture.

46. As 45, but his name isn't Zachary. Though he never exactly said it was either.