Nearly half of all men and one-third of women have lied about what they have read to try to impress friends or potential partners, a survey suggests.Animated discussion ensued.In my life, I don't ever remember lying about what I was reading to impress a potential partner or a friend. Or, really, anyone.
Men were most likely to do this to appear intellectual or romantic, found the poll of 1,500 people by Populus for the National Year of Reading campaign.
The men polled said they would be most impressed by women who read news websites, Shakespeare or song lyrics. Women said men should have read Nelson Mandela's biography or Shakespeare.
My lies are lies of omission. I don't tell people what I'm reading or what I've read. Especially men. Because usually their eyes glaze over when I mention the word "book". There are exceptions. But the exceptions aren't much better. There are the intense, serious types who want to talk about the book to the exclusion of everything else, going on and on at the party about it no matter how much I try to change the topic. Yeah, yeah, I know. It's my own "I'm Trapped!" phobia.
The other exception is Britain. In Britain I always talk books. With total strangers. I usually come back thinking I should move to London. But now that I've read this article, I suspect that they were all lying to me anyway.
So, how about you?
