All This Is That: prevarication

Showing posts with label prevarication. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Lying and contractions

It seems to be conventional wisdom among investigators and interrogators that the use of contractions can be an indicator of truth. “I didn't take it” instead of “I did not take it.”

Two public examples of this that come immediately to mind:

President Bill Clinton: "I did not have sexual relations with that woman."

President Richard Nixon: "I am not a crook."

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