I interpret it as “one that tells a lie”.
Similar to saying “you’re cheating” when playing a game with someone.
My question lies in the second part.
Saying “you are telling a lie” could be something like saying “you’re a liar”?
I understand that interpretation. It’s one interpretation. In many situations though, if someone is accused of being a “liar”, it’s because they lie with some frequency. Who has never told a lie once?
Not to me in as far as interpreting our rule on personal attacks, no.
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Game of Thrones fans might remember this scene from one of the later seasons. “I didn’t lie. I was wrong.”
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Never watched it, but there’s definitely a difference between lying and being wrong!
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There is also a difference between telling someone what they say is wrong or what they say is a lie.
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Absolutely.
By the same token, showing someone is lying will take a lot more than showing someone is wrong.
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I’ve also seen it several times, and reported it more than once. There’s absolutely no need for it, particularly since (in the instances I’ve seen) no lie was being told and the poster concerned offered no followup elucidating the untruth. A lie is something that is not merely incorrect, but a statement made to deceive.
One would have to jump through a few convoluted hoops to argue “no” to the question. If a lie is told, then the person who told it is a liar. I don’t see that “you are a liar” needs to be equivalent to “you are a habitual liar”. Boris Johnson told a lie about his little lockdown soiree. In that instance someone could legitimately (although perhaps not usefully) have said “liar!”. Whether he tells lies about everything, or about other things, is irrelevant in that context.
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I think it depends on if B can prove the intention of A.
A may have told a statement that was false, but without the intention of misleading anyone. A may genuinely have believed the statement was true.
But if A had intentionally told a false statement to mislead others, then A told a lie.
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B is clearly a liar, since it did rain a lot yesterday.
That’s what I thought. Perhaps we can agree on that, depending on the circumstances and the intentions of the person who says it, “You are a liar” can mean “You are a liar in this instance where you are telling this lie” or “You are a habitual/frequent/pathological liar cause you lie all the time.” In the first case “This is a lie” would equal “You are a liar”, in the second it wouldn’t.
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What if A’s statement is true, B refuses to believe it, presents proof to back up his disbelief but this proof is open to interpretation to back up both arguments.
Being wrong is not dishonest
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Words have meaning. If a lie is told, the teller is a liar.
Kinda related: a lot of people hide their true intentions behind unclear sentences with unsaid implications, and then often back out of those intentions if it doesn’t work as planned.
You can avoid commitment if you speak vaguely, too common and pretty shitty, specially when people ask things from other people:
A: (to B) Why don’t you do X?
B: Sure… I guess I can do X.
(B proceeds to do X, but eventually X turns out wrong and B is blamed for it)
B: (to A) You told me to do it!
A: I never said that!
- A is lying
- A is not lying
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Technically speaking, A is not wrong, but is dishonest, and that’s shitty.
Eventually learned to always confirm with a “So, you want me to do X?” when asked to do things.
Hate the Why don’t you X? and Would you like to do X for me?
And I hear it so much in mandarin!
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Yes, as long as one makes a good faith effort to learn from mistakes.
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Then that would be a misunderstanding. A would not be a liar. B would be a skeptic.
But is B still calling A a liar?
So, if I got the discussion in the last posts correct, a lie is false statement with the intent to deceive.
Or do you guys disagree with this definition?
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That’s what the original question was right?
B literally says “This is a lie”.
yes the question is two fold.
Is pointing out something is a lie the same as calling someone a liar?
or just because someone made a statement that is a lie mean that they’re a lier?
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