Neil: Hello welcome to 6 Minute English. I'm Neil.
Rob: And I'm Rob.
Neil: Rob, when you were a child, did you
have a pet?
Rob: Yes, we had a few pets. My favourite
was a little fluffy hamster.
Neil: And what happened to your
hamster?
Rob: Well one day I got home from school and he
and he wasn’t in his cage. I was worried for
a bit in case he’d escaped or got hurt,
but it was alright. My mum told me that
he had gone to live on a farm so that he
could run around with other animals.
Neil: Really?
Rob: Yes, really.
Neil: A hamster. Went to live on a farm. To
be with other animals. Really?
Rob: Oh, well, when you put it like that.
Neil: I think that was probably one of
those lies that parents tell their children
so as not to make them sad.
Rob: Well I’m sad now.
Neil: Well maybe having a go at this quiz
will cheer you up.
According to a study by a US
psychologist, what percentage of people
will lie in a typical
ten minute conversation? Is it:
a) 40% b) 50%, or c) 60%.
Rob: I think most people don’t lie that
much so I’ll say 40%.
Neil: We’ll reveal the answer a little later in
the programme.
Rob: So today we are talking about lies
and particularly the lies that parents
tell children.
Neil: The topic was discussed on the BBC
Radio 4 programme, Woman’s Hour.
Rob: A guest on that programme was
Doctor Chris Boyle, a psychologist at
Exeter University. He talks about a
particular kind of lie. We tell these lies not
because we want to hurt people.
What colour are these lies called?
Dr Chris Boyle: A white lie is just a
distortion of the truth without malicious
intent – as long as there's
not malicious intent I think it's something
that we do. It's almost a societal norm
that it's become where it is acceptable
that we do tell certain lies at certain
times.
Neil: Dr Chris Boyle there. What colour is
the kind of lie he was talking about?
Rob: It's a white lie. He says a white lie is just
a distortion of the truth. Distortion here
means a changing or bending of the truth.
These kind of lies are OK as long as we
don’t tell them because we want to hurt
someone.
Neil: He used the phrase malicious intent
to talk about a bad reason for doing
something, didn’t he?
Rob: Yes, intent is the reason or purpose
for doing something and malicious
is an adjective which means cruel or
nasty. So without malicious intent
means without wanting to hurt or be
cruel to someone.
Neil: He said that this kind of white lie
was almost a societal norm. Can you
explain what he means by that?
Rob: Yes, something that is the norm is
something that is expected, it’s
regular and usual. The adjective 'societal'
comes from the noun society.
So a societal norm is something that is
regular and common in your culture or
society.
Neil: So do you think your mum’s story
about the hamster and the farm was
a little white lie?
Rob: Yes, I’m sure it was. She didn’t do it
with malicious intent - she didn’t want
to hurt me. In fact, just the opposite, she
wanted to protect me.
Neil: Yes, that’s one kind of white lie that
parents tell, to protect children.
There are also a couple of other reasons.
One being the parent’s convenience.
Rob: Yes, I remember my mum telling me
on certain days, the park wasn’t open.
I know now that it never closed, I guess at
the time she was just too busy to take me.
Neil: And then there are the cultural lies
that parents tell children.
Rob: What do you mean by that?
Neil: Well first, if you have any children
listening to this right now, you might want
to cover their ears for a few seconds.
Rob I’m talking about, for example,
Father Christmas and the Tooth Fairy.
Rob: Yes, there’s no malicious intent in
telling children those stories. It is a
cultural and societal norm.
Neil: Let’s listen to Dr Chris Boyle again
talking about white lies.
Dr Chris Boyle: A white lie is just a
distortion of the truth without
malicious intent – so as long as there's
not malicious intent I think it's something
that we do. It's almost a societal norm that
it's become where it is acceptable that we
do tell certain lies at certain
times.
Neil: So now back to our question at the
top of the programme. I asked what
percentage of people will lie in a typical
ten minute conversation.
Was it: a) 40%, b) 50%, or c) 60%?
What did you say Rob?
Rob: I said a) just 40%.
Neil: Well I'm afraid the answer was 60%.
Rob: Really? Goodness 60%! That's more
than I expected.
Neil: Right, well before we go, let’s recap
the vocabulary we talked about today. The
first expression was 'white lie'. A lie we
tell without meaning to hurt someone, for
example when I say to you – you look
nice today!
Rob: Wait, what did you say?
Neil: But that is actually a distortion of the
truth. A changing or bending of the truth.
Rob: Mmmm. This makes me think of the
next expression,
'malicious intent'. Intent is the reason or
purpose for doing something, and doing
something with a malicious intent is
doing it deliberately to be cruel or to hurt
someone. I think you have a malicious
intent, telling me that when
you say I look nice, it’s just a lie!
Neil: I’m just kidding!
Rob: That’s the norm for you, isn’t it, just
kidding. A 'norm' is the standard or
‘normal’ way that something is. In the clip
we heard societal norm' which is the
or ‘normal’ way something is done in
society.
Neil: For example, telling children about
Father Christmas.
Rob: Sssh!
Neil: Well, sadly this isn’t a lie but that's
all for this programme. For more, find us
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website bbclearningenglish.com
where you can find all kinds of other
audio programmes, videos, and quizzes,
to help you improve your English. Thanks
for joining us and goodbye!
Rob: Bye.