If I’m a lying, I’m a dying!
He’s a bald face liar and the truth ain’t in him.
Mammy used to say, “Why lie because you know the truth will stand when the world is on fire.”
—Shirl 2017
I’ve been studying on the truth lately and because of my pondering I remembered what Shirl’s Mammy used to say. I’ve heard that old saying a few times over the years and have always thought it is full of great wisdom.
A few others that come to mind in regard to those who don’t value truth.
He’d rather climb a tree and lie than stand on the ground and tell the truth.
I’m telling you he’s such a liar he’s got to get somebody else to call his hogs!
Liar liar pants on fire.
Don’t pee on my leg and tell me it’s raining.
If his lips are moving he’s a lying.
That dog won’t hunt.
Lie like a dog.
He lies like a ten year old linoleum rug.
Your lying through your teeth!
He’s so windy he could blow up an onion sack!
He’d walk a mile to tell a lie.
I know there are other colorful sayings about folks who have trouble telling the truth 🙂 Please leave a comment and share any that come to mind.
Last night’s video: Making a Garden in Appalachia – FIRST Garden Tour 2023.
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This made me think of a time back in the 1950’s when I was a child. Aunt Ruby and I were standing looking at a relative’s grave. She stood there for awhile and said “There lies a bed of truth”. After a short pause she continued “Because none of it ever came out of him”. I’ll never forget her comment and will always wonder about the story behind it.
My Canadian mother used to say, “I believe you, thousands wouldn’t.” I use the same line now.
Have you heard, “You lie like a bad toupee.” That’s my favorite. No offense to toupee wearers.
My favorite is, Liar Liar headed to a lake of fire.
My Daddy used to say, “When they die you can say there lays a body of truth because it never came out.” 🙂
Daddy used to tell us “You’ll go to hell as quick for lying as you will for stealing”. He didn’t have to say it very often thank goodness!
You were talking on one of your videos about family sayings and this saying ties in with today’s post. When my youngest brother was pretty little our grandmother was keeping us. She must have been busy that day because something she told Chris she would do (I don’t remember what) she never got around to. Well, after a little while when what he wanted was never done he said “Grandmama, you lie and tell stories too!” Ever since then when we want to jokingly tell someone we don’t believe them we say they lie and tell stories too!
Thank you so much for your Blind Pig posts and especially your videos. They remind me so much of my family sitting outside visiting with each other.
We used to say “I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him.”
Oops I forgot to say I did like these saying and the one that caught my attention was “Liar, Liar Pants on fire in addition to your tongue is as long as a telephone wire.
But you know a Liar will always get caught in the end. They try to hide the truth and when you meet someone that works with them and they say I don’t know how in the world they can do all that stuff. And you correct them and say That person never went to University a day in their life so that’s a big fat lie. They just go to work each day and after work, they sleep the day away. They are usually stunned and when you go home and tell that person who lied, what your conversation with their co-worker was about, they are stunned and call you a big mouth. But I say if you want people to keep to your lies you have to inform them. But I am not one of them to bite for such notions.
The one I have made up myself is: He or She is a Chronic perpetual liar and wouldn’t know how to tell the truth if he or she were slapped in the face with it.
Awesome post – and fitting for today. Growing up, I often heard the following:
*He likes like a rug.
*He’s full of it.
*He’s so full of s*** that his eyes are brown.
*The bull**** is getting deep in here.
*Oh the webs we weave
lol. My mother once in a while told me “You are so full of it, you’re eyes are turning brown.” Or “You are full of prunes.” Not sure if I was telling a lie or not, (I highly doubt that was the case, but she had a tendency to be harsh…I wasn’t her chosen daughter.)
BTW, I was & still have blue/gray eyes. She inherited her brown peepers.
Cassie—
To keep it “G” rated we would say “lying sack of fertilize. “
The wreck was not my fault. If it was I can tell it so it appears to be the other feller’s.
He’s such a low down liar he’d have to stand on a chair to look a snake in the eye.
My mother-in-law would tell things the way she wanted them to have happened. She would tell lies so many times that she would begin to believe them herself.
He wouldn’t be happy even if he was hung with a new rope!
Now a days when-you can get the kids outside to play together , you can bet you’ll hear liar liar pants on fire.
My favorite is He’d rather climb a tree and tell a lie than to stand on the ground and tell the truth! I’ve never heard that before!
Everyone have a great day!
A lie will be half-way around the world before the true gets out the front door.
I heard my mother say many time, after passing along some news or gossip, “If it’s a lie, he (or she) told it.”
I buy those Vidalia onions that come in a mesh onion sack. I always put them in a produce bag because they shed worse than any long haired dog. If I throw them up on the counter bare it means the cashier will have to clean the counter and sweep the floor when I’m gone and I’ll have to clean my counter, sweep my floor and vacuum out my truck after I get them home. Do you buy onions that shed?
He would walk around the block to tell a lie when he could stand still & tell the truth.
I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him.
I’ve often heard, “He don’t know the difference between a lie and the truth,” or ” you can tell a little white lie, that won’t hurt nobody.” Enjoyed hearing all of these today. Tipper, I enjoyed your garden tour last night. It’s absolutely beautiful. Ya’ll have really worked hard, and it shows. I enjoyed all of it especially all of the flowers and the ones yet to bloom. It’s wonderful to have a peaceful place to just walk around and see all of God’s beauty and bounty. I’ve been checking my tomato plants every day. Yesterday, I saw some blooms. 🙂
He would walk around the block to tell a lie when he could stand still & tell the truth.
Tipper–Here’s a few more along the general line of lying.
He is so accustomed to lying that he lies in his dreams.
He’s a stranger to the truth.
He’s such a crooked liar they’ll have to screw him into the ground to bury him.
He’d go to great lengths to tell a lie when the simple truth would suffice.
The truth ain’t in her (had to use the female gender at least once).
Children and fools can’t lie.
There’s little to choose from rotten apples and liars.
Spit in my face if I tell you a lie (from Shakespeare, I believe)
The Devil is the author of all lies.
My mother used to say “Are you telling me a story?” She also said “Are you telling a teewidey?” Don’t even know if that is the correct spelling or pronunciation because I never heard anyone else say that, except my grandmother. Maybe a made up word? We weren’t allowed to say lie or liar because it wasn’t “nice”
I guess this one goes along with lying, it would often be said by the men I worked with, it was “pull up your pants legs, it’s to late to save your boots”. The other ones in the comments are good, some I have heard and forgotten.
My dad’s mom, when we were little, used a test to see if you were lying… you had to be able to look her in the eye and say “Cabbage Cabbage cabbage” without laughing.
I’ve used a few like: ‘Wait a minute, let me go get my waders.’ – ‘Sorry, I can’t hear you through all that wind.’
Oh gosh, I forgot my best one: ‘It’s a good thing your name ain’t Pinocchio, you could’a killed someone.’
All these old saying are really familiar to me. My grandmother used to say “He’d tell a lie when the truth would fit better.”
He will tell you a black sheep is white. He’s such a liar, I let what he says go in one ear and out the other. I sure am glad we don’t have the ability to do that!
I had not heard blow up an onion sack or someone else to call his hogs. I’ll be passing those along to some of my Yankee neighbors just for my own enjoyment while watching their expressions.
Not as subtle as some but “I wouldn’t trust him in an out house with a muzzle on…” is one of my favorites.
Consider this: “He has always hated the truth because there is no truth in him.” Jesus said that in reference to Satan (John 8:43, https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%208:43-45&version=NLT). May it never be said of us!
Can’t think of any other sayings offhand. But I think we Americans are in a crisis over a lack of love for the truth. Once truth was absolute and thus firm, the “eternal verities”, not a truth we made but one that exists independently of us. Now it is relative and movable and therefore what is represented as it is no longer believable. Some want law to be what truth is because it is changeable. Part of that is redefining words (also known as “wresting” twisting to a use and/or meaning not intended) to mean something that best serves a pre-decided end. Thank God for truth and those who stand on it and for it. As you might guess, I think about truth a lot also.
Ron, is parsing the same as wresting? I’m to lazy to look it up.
The truth ain’t in him!
I guess you said that, but it bares repeating.
Brown eyed pickle pie run a mile to tell a lie !
I enjoy visiting with you guys every day. Thanks for being neighborly is your own special way. All the truth, no lie.
Same here Ken!
Hi there. How about “lie like a rug”? I heard this when I was a kid, and have always used it. Sometimes I use “how do you know when he’s lying? His lips are moving. Most of the others are new to me. Thanks, this was fun.
My grandfather use to say, “that’s a store bought lie!” I suppose meaning it’s a lie of the best kind.
Here’s one I have heard over the years: “How can you tell he’s lying? His eyes are open and his lips are moving!”
He wouldn’t know the truth if he met it in the middle of the road.
Teresa mentioned her granddaughter. This has nothing to do with lying, but my grandson is moving out today to live on his own. He has grown to be a fine young man, no worries there. Without going into details, he has lived either right beside of me or with me, (after his mother’s death) all of his life. As bad it sounds for my children, I didn’t know it was possible to love something or someone as much as I love my grandchildren. I would have had them first if I had known this earlier! About details, If I could prove something on a man, I would kill him slow and painful, after all, now at my age, life without parole don’t mean much. Sorry for writing this, but I’m so low today, I feel knee high to a snake’s belly. I am thinking of a”song” by Earl Scruggs and Lester Flatt called “Father’s Table Grace”.
“They lie like a rug!” They are more crooked than a dog’s hind leg!” “That’s a BIG talker, right there!” “They like like they breathe- it’s plumb natural!” “You will know their lies are to be found every time their mouth flies open!” “Ain’t nothing but lies and venom spewing from those lips!” “They tell the tallest tales you ever heard!” “Flies swarm to those lying lips.”
Very funny sayings but I do wish people wouldn’t lie. Another one I heard from growing up is “he is a blow George”.
My favorite is. He’d rather climb a tree to tell a lie than to stand on the ground and be truthful.
These are good!!! I especially like the one about blowing up the onion sack!!! Several I’ve heard over the years.
Have a Fantastic Friday!!!
he wouldn’t know the truth if it bit him on the butt
I’ve heard and used some of them, but some are new to me. I’ve always heard one that talks about lies but doesn’t use the word itself. It’s “Oh the webs we weave, once we start to deceive.” Have y’all ever heard that one? I’m sure y’all have! I’m thinking it came from a play Shakespeare wrote and I probably learned it in literature class at school, but can’t really recall. It’s just been to many years back to remember.
I always heard, “Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.” Because, when one tells a falsehood…another and then another will need to be told.
Loved reading this. These sayings will come in handy dealing with my 8 year old granddaughter!!
You lie like a dog. He’d rather lie than tell the truth. Why lie when the truth would suffice?
His story won’t hold water.
I am sure I have either said or heard most of them. The one that got my attention was the one about calling the hogs. That is a new one…can’t wait to use it myself. The saying about putting hair on your chest is one I say in reverse…if it tastes bad I usually say, it took the hair right off my chest. Stay well and safe you guys, give my thoughts and prayers to Granny and Miss Cindy and of course the rest of you guys.
I have heard most of these over the years. Another one is “take it with a grain of salt”. I once worked with a man that was a liar, you couldn’t believe anything he said and the rest of us changed this to “you had better take the whole box of salt if Jim told it”. When growing up at a young age, mother would say look me in the eye and she could tell if I was telling her the truth or lying. My old hound dog has been barking during the night, I may not have a garden left this morning.
God bless them Gussie’s, they sure are purty!
daddy said old so and so was a blow gun! telling lies!