It is human nature to socialize with other people—and that means dealing with some pretty uncomfortable situations too. Sometimes, in such situations, people may find themselves being dishonest with their words and lying to get out of a sticky or awkward situation.

Now, whether these lies are believable or unbelievable is a whole ‘nother question.

But, this brings up another question—why do people lie?.

While there are several reasons why someone would go the dishonest route, the main objective here is to either protect the feelings of the person they are talking to or protect themselves from an embarrassing situation.

Pexels | Sometimes, you have no choice but to lie your way out of a situation

These lies have developed somewhat of a universal language of their own, which makes them all the more interesting.

Here are some of the most commonly-used lies.

1. ‘I’m Busy that Day’

So, your boss called you after work hours to enquire if you are free during the upcoming weekend and if they can count on you to work overtime during the weekends. You can’t tell them that you hate your job and the last thing you’d want to do is to show up to work on a Saturday. Instead, you might say something along the lines of, ‘I’m busy that day.’ Problem solved.

2. ‘I’m Listening’

Have you been in a situation wherein you are desperately trying to concentrate on a task at hand but someone conveniently (or inconveniently!) decides to not only disturb you during this entire time but also decides to engage in a meaningless conversation, talking about how their day went? You try to listen to them but can’t help but zone out and shift your focus back to your task. Here’s the thing: in the middle of the ‘conversation,’ your friend is bound to ask you if you’re indeed paying attention to their story. And your answer? ‘I’m listening.’

Pexels | Just beware of the ‘Oh, yeah? What did I say?’

3. ‘I Love It!’

Ah, this has to be one of the most common lies, especially when it’s time to receive a special gift from one of your loved ones. It’s your birthday and you’ve received an ugly yellow sweater from grandma. Now, you might consider telling her the truth—after all, she knitted it herself and you just can't go breaking her heart by not giving her a compliment! So, you do what any other reasonable person would do: blatantly lie by saying you love it (while thinking of the dozens of ugly sweaters that are already stuffed away somewhere in the attic above).

Pexels | If you tell her the truth, she’s only going to die faster

There you have it, these are the most commonly used lies!

We know you’ve used all of these at least once in your life—come on, admit it, no lies.