Browsed by
Tag: untruth

Lie Like a Rug

Lie Like a Rug

Comments 6 comments

Lie Like a Rug--Jumbled multicolored arrows with truth or lie on themMy dad loved to play with words. He would deliberately use the wrong word to give a sentence a totally new meaning. I’m sure some people thought he did not know better. However, he knew exactly what he was doing. Lie like a rug was one of his favorite expressions.

Lie like a rug is a pun, a usually funny play on words.

Puns use words that are alike or nearly alike but have different meanings. “Lie” can mean either to tell an untruth or to rest in a flat position. Lie like a rug combines those two meanings since a rug lies flat on a floor.

If we lie like a rug, we lie boldly and shamelessly.

Our untruth is no mistake. We deliberately lie. Sometimes we know that no one will believe us but lie anyway.

If we repeat an untruth often enough, we may persuade some people to believe.

We sound ridiculous. Yet repetition eventually convinces those unwilling to look at the evidence. If not convinced, they may choose not to confront us or face the truth.

Always weigh the evidence.

Take what sounds like a lie with a grain of salt. Search for truth and follow it.

“Whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God” (John 3:21 NIV).

Thanks to Melissa Henderson for the suggestion. Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay.

Do you have an expression you want explained or thoughts about this one? If so, please comment below.

Subscribe to receive my weekly posts by email and receive a free copy of “Words of Hope for Days that Hurt.”

If you enjoyed this post, please share it with your friends.

With a Grain of Salt

With a Grain of Salt

Comments 11 comments

With a Grain of Salt--teaspoon spilling saltSocial media content should be taken with a grain of salt. Along with helpful information, we find untruths and half-truths.

To take with a grain of salt (or a pinch of salt) means with hesitation.

We verify rather than accept without reservation. Especially if we don’t know the information source. Such caution applies to more than social media.

  • Many sources remain reliable and honest.
  • Others, not worth their salt, share unreliable and dishonest material.

Unreliable sources often make a bad situation worse.

They harm instead of help. Although we want to believe information, we often find:

  • Exaggeration
  • Deliberate deceit
  • Unintended untruth

According to The Free Dictionary, with a grain of salt “is a translation of the Latin cum grano salis.”

Pliny used it to describe “Pompey’s discovery of an antidote for poison (to be taken with a grain of salt).”

Let’s always speak truth and guide others to do the same.

Season rather than harm. Preserve rather than destroy.

“Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone” (Colossians 4:6 NIV).

Thanks to Joyce McCullough for the suggestion.

Do you have an expression you want explained or thoughts about this one? If so, please comment below.

Subscribe to receive my weekly posts by email and receive a free copy of “Words of Hope for Days that Hurt.”

If you enjoyed this post, please share it with your friends.