Don’t lie!

While we’re all guilty of saying that phrase almost on a daily basis, honestly speaking, who doesn’t lie every now and then?

People often lie to get themselves out of tricky situations or to quickly wrap up an especially awkward or lengthy conversation.

Mind you, however, these commonly-used lies are quite harmless and shouldn’t be confused with other, severe types of lies that can cause a lot of harm to ourselves or someone else. Whether it is to save yourself from a good ol’ scolding or trying not to hurt someone’s feelings, a few white lies here and there never did hurt anyone, right? These lies are usually light-hearted and are intended to do more good than harm.

Rather than being actual lies, strictly speaking, these phrases have turned into double-meaning statements that people use to get out of sticky situations.

Pexels | They say ‘a lie has no legs’ but sure does have a double meaning

1. I’m Sorry

Now, there’s a difference between a genuine apology and simply saying ‘I’m sorry.’ Have you ever been in a situation where apologizing might actually benefit you? For example, you’re in a heated conversation that you wish you’d never gotten into in the first place. Hence, you apologize in hopes that the other person can let it go. You are not really sorry but are just taking the high road so that the two of you can go back to being really good friends.

2. I’ll Speak With You Later

So you’ve just come home for the holidays and out of nowhere, your mom suddenly hands you the phone to talk to a distant relative. The person on the other line goes on to talk about how small you once were and how you’re all grown up now. You can’t help but feel weirded out and just want the conversation to end but you don’t want to hurt their feelings either. So you just hit them with something along the lines of, ‘I’ll speak with you later.’

Pexels | You won’t be calling them later; that is a fact

3. My Phone’s Battery is Dead

Your friend has been ringing you up endlessly to ask you for some advice that you know they’ll never end up taking to heart anyway. You’ve just returned after a long, hard day of work, so you just let the phone ring. Once you’ve caught up on some much-needed sleep, you can always call them tomorrow and make up an excuse for why you never picked up. If you’re scrambling for an excuse, you can simply clear your name by saying that your phone’s battery somehow magically died on the previous day.

Pexels | Since there is no way to know if a phone is genuinely out of battery or not, they can’t hold it against you

These are some of the most commonly-used lies. If you’re ever looking for harmless excuses that can save your bacon in a sticky situation, use these to your advantage.