What do you do when someone tells you a blatant, but unimportant, lie?

[Arkansas Granny]

An acquaintance told me this morning that the first vote he ever cast was for John F. Kennedy.

Kennedy was elected in 1960. This man was born in 1946 (same as me). We were 14 years old when Kennedy was elected.

Why do people make up such stories? This is not the first time I've heard him say something that I knew was not true. It's not like he has anything to gain or lose from telling these lies. I just don't understand it.

[mainstreetonce]

1. Ask him why

he has been lying about his age?

[In_The_Wind]

2. If it's not important, let it go. His memories may be failing.

I was born in 1948. I've forgotten a great deal of my past lately.

[Hoyt]

3. People get a little muddled at that age, I know. Plus, maybe he's just a big JFK fan and

his wish to vote for him has become fact. I could give him a break for that one.

Now, if you know he voted for trump, and he says he didn't . . . . .

[femmedem]

4. I agree with the other replies. Unfortunately, he probably has some mild cognitive impairment.

I wouldn't challenge him on it because I doubt he is lying. More likely he believes it to be true.
Better to be kind, and hope it doesn't progress quickly.

[Croney]

5. Decades ago, I told my mother that Ted Kennedy walked by me in a crowd

and was very charismatic. Not long ago I overheard her telling somebody about the time she met Ted Kennedy. But she's 95...

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

6. I'd call him out on it.

It's not mild cognitive impairment to remember voting nearly a decade before he was eligible. The first election he could possibly have voted in was 1968. Back then the voting age was 21.

I was born in 1948. 70, my age, or 72, his age, really isn't that old. I get very tired of people at this age pretending it's cute to be old and infirm. I am NOT talking about those who are genuinely infirm.

Anyway, if he brings it up again challenge him. Point out his year of birth, how old he would have been in 1960. Commiserate with him that it would have been so great to have voted for JFK, too bad you were both too young.

I am a stickler for facts. It's important to get factual things right, even small ones. Among the reasons Trump constantly lies about stuff is that his entire life, so far as I can tell, no one has ever called him out on anything he's gotten wrong so that by now, he honestly thinks that whatever he says must be true. I'm pretty sure your friend isn't like that, but still, a correction, gentle or firm, would actually be doing him a favor.

[Arkansas Granny]

8. I don't really want to get something started with him. Like I said, it's not that important.

It just bugs me and I'm curious as to why some people tell such obvious falsehoods.

It's not cognitive impairment, it's flat out telling lies. He knows that we are the same age and that I would know that he was too young to vote for JFK. He has told me different versions of the same event on several occasions. There may be a kernel of truth in there, but it's been embellished to the point that you can't believe any of it.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

10. Bingo. It's up to you about calling him out, and you're the one who knows him.

It can be hard to know just where to draw the line with a friend, just what mis-information you feel like tolerating.

But absolutely, it's not cognitive impairment.

We all tell various stories to ourselves and to others to make ourselves feel better. Some, like this one, are egregiously false. Others not so much.

[Major Nikon]

7. Maybe he didn't like Johnson or Goldwater and wrote in JFK

[WhiteTara]

9. I know them for what they are -- liars.

[Floyd R. Turbo]

11. Have a bil who lied constantly about all kinds of stuff. When I knew or suspected he was lying I

would say “No shit! Me too!” It drove him nuts. After a string of his lies and my “no shits!” at a golf tournament fifteen years ago he quit speaking to me. Life is good!

[rurallib]

12. did he say JFK or just "Kennedy"

RFK was running in 1968 in primaries and the guy would have been 22

[Arkansas Granny]

13. He said John Kennedy.

[UTUSN]

14. My usual coping technique is surprisingly not confrontation, but rather avoidance.

Would let it pass until some time later after percolating and further occurrences.

[Arkansas Granny]

15. Like I said earlier, it's nothing important, just annoying.

It just makes you doubt anything he says.

[Kaleva]

16. I was born in '58 and already my mind is slipping. I'd let it go.

[LuckyCharms]

17. 1960 - 1946 is 34 years old.

[yardwork]

18. Don't say anything but remember that this person lies.

As I get older, I'm trying to pay more attention to what people say and do. People reveal a lot about themselves if we listen to them.

When somebody tells me a blatant lie I make a note of it. This is a person who lies. Important to remember.

[HeiressofBickworth]

19. My mother was a habitual liar

In the early part of my life, I didn't realize that she lied so much, unless it was directly about me, and then I knew the lie from the truth. When I was a teenager, I just ignored her.

Then when I was over 50, I would point out her lies. One time I actually asked her why she was lying. She puffed up herself, pridefully, and said she didn't just tell ANY lie. She said she lied to gain status or to get someone to do what she wanted them to do. So after that, when she lied, I asked her if it was a status lie or a manipulation lie. That would really piss her off.

It wasn't long after that we became permanently estranged. She died in 2006; I hadn't seen or heard from her (my choice) for three years. I found out she died when I got the obligatory notice from her attorney that her estate was being probated. I went to the courthouse and looked up her will, and damned, if she didn't lie about me in her will. I never bothered to answer the notice of probate.

And before any of you good-hearted DU'ers get all sympathetic, no, I didn't and don't mourn the loss of my mother. She was a difficult person and she took it out on me and my sister, but her son could do no wrong.

I guess this is why Trump's lies make me so mad. I resent like hell being manipulated and there is no lie big enough to make me think he deserves any status.

[Arkansas Granny]

20. That's an interesting take. I would call his lies status lies.

FWIW, I understand your relationship with your mother. Mine didn't lie, but middle child syndrome is a real thing.

[HeiressofBickworth]

21. I agree, birth order is a real thing

I'm the oldest of my siblings. I'm my mother's case, her philosophy of raising children also played a part, along with her status-seeking and manipulations. She said she believed children should never be complemented because it makes them complacent. For her, critisizm was a better motivator for children to try harder to succeed. P.S. it isn't.

She would have been a huge fan of Trump. She admired any one who could work the system for their own benefit and damn the opposition.