Paltering

A lie involves three components: intent, literal meaning, and effect. A liar (1) presents factually incorrect information with the intent to deceive, (2) communicates information that is literally untrue, and (3) produces the effect of having the listener believe that the false information is true. Conversely, if these three components are missing in a communication, the statement would be considered truthful.

Many communications, however, fall somewhere between outright lying and truth-telling. In these communications, an element of full-blown lying is missing, as is an element of truth-telling. For example, if the intent component of a lie is missing, the speaker would be communicating a false statement he or she believes to be true. While such communications may be viewed as reckless or negligent (for example, former president George W. Bush's claim of Saddam Hussein's nuclear arsenal), because they lack the element of intent they would likely not be viewed as lying or fraudulent. Within a legal context, when intent to deceive is absent, lying or fraud is missing as well.

In another set of communications, the first and third components of lying (that is, intent and achieved deception) are present, while the second component (that is, the literal untruth of the communication) is relaxed. These communications bend, stretch, shade, slant, and distort the truth. However, they manage to fall short of outright lying. These insincere, misleading, and deceptive communications have been referred to as “palters,” and their use has been called “paltering.”

The goal of the palterer and the liar is exactly the same: to mislead or deceive the listener. However, the palterer's communication, unlike that of the liar, falls short of a literal falsehood or untruth. The palterer's message typically contains a “grain of truth,” which keeps it short of a full-blown lie. For example, an aspiring actress was hired as an extra in a crowd scene of a major motion picture. Subsequently, she posted on her resume that she had acted in this movie with Robert DeNiro, the film's star. While her statement was not a total lie, it was clearly deceptive and designed to exaggerate her acting prominence and perhaps entice other filmmakers to offer her roles.

A former musician tells his friends that he played drums with the famous Tommy Dorsey orchestra and turned down an opportunity to tour with the renowned rock group, Rare Earth. In reality, he sat in with the orchestra for one number while the group's drummer relieved himself, and he was asked to tour with the Sunliners, who years later changed their name to Rare Earth.

There are several varieties of paltering based on what the palterer says or does, or neglects to say or do. Perhaps the most common and least [Page 746]consequential form is the social or “white palter,” often employed as etiquette or tact. Examples include telling an overweight person their outfits make them look slim, making up a prior commitment to avoid an undesirable social event, and the memorable Seinfeld episode in which Jerry and George, after observing a homely infant, exclaim, “Now, that's a baby!”

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