Meaning of blue lie | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A lie told by a police officer in order to get someone to comply with his or her wishes, thereby avoiding the use of force.
2. A lie told to protect the reputation of one's group or organization.

Examples

“Blue lies are different from police placebos in that they are not told to help or comfort the person lied to but, rather, to exert control”

“Hence the individuals most likely to become the dupes of blue lies are those who do not respond submissively to the power and authority of the police or to non-deceptive attempts at persuasion.”

“Blue lies are those used to control the person or to make the job easier in situations where force could be used. For example, to make an arrest eaiser, an officer will lie about where the suspect is being taken, or to get someone out on the street to be arrested, the officer will say that she only wants to talk.”

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“About Manete's evidence, that Francis had asked him why he did not join the people, why he did not fight, Francis said, "No, he is telling a blue lie."”

“Fu et al. (2013) found that Chinese participants judged blue lies less negatively than did their American counterparts, and that this difference increased with age.”

“Blue lies are so pervasive that even former prosecutors have described them as "commonplace" and "prevalent."”

“More recently, the concept of blue lies has been applied to the political behaviors of politicians and the perception of their misrepresentations based on recipients' partisan affiliations (Flynn, Nyhan, & Reifler, 2017).”

“Could this theory explain why so many companies deliberately deceive their audiences in a crisis situation, perceiving the crisis almost as a state of war? To protect the company, you feel you have to tell a blue lie.”

CEFR level