Comments on: Bare-Faced Oops

By: dyphilla

dyphilla — Sun, 26 Mar 2006 14:12:13 +0000

I just spent twenty minutes arguing with my husband about this topic. He insisted that the correct phrase was “bold-faced lie” and I corrected him. I told him it was “bald-faced lie.” I am rarely incorrect =) in any way. If I must be wrong, however, I am glad he is as well.

By: ttyler5

ttyler5 — Sun, 17 Jul 2005 20:42:56 +0000

xrlq, sorry, I just saw your reply, must have missed it the other day.

Yeah, there are sources, I’ve got to go back and find them, and will do that for you.

Later!

By: triticale

triticale — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 03:29:07 +0000

And here I always thought it was balledd-faced…

By: Kevin Murphy

Kevin Murphy — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 00:07:16 +0000

Then there is the proportional-spaced lie…

By: Xrlq

Xrlq — Fri, 15 Jul 2005 23:53:26 +0000

That’s what I had previously thought myself, but these sources say no. Do you have a source of your own?

By: ttyler5

ttyler5 — Fri, 15 Jul 2005 23:11:16 +0000

Whardewyouseguys getcher knowledge uh slang?

“Bald-faced lie” is very old, it pre-dates bold-face type, and the original version is “bare-face(d) lie.”

“Bold-face lie” is a later version referring to bold-face type. Of course it refers not to a lie obvious or exposed (bare-faced) but to a bold lie.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Fri, 15 Jul 2005 08:31:23 +0000

My head is spinning. I find this site helpful. Common Errors in English.

By: Doc Rampage

Doc Rampage — Fri, 15 Jul 2005 02:53:54 +0000

Well, yeah, Kevin’s right. This being a language-police post and all, I should also point out that your first sentence containst a plural subject with a singular predicate.

By: Kevin Murphy

Kevin Murphy — Fri, 15 Jul 2005 02:32:16 +0000

There is an extraneous word in the first point in sentence two (or some other wrong word).

Normally I wouldn’t mention, um, it, but Language Police posts get special scrutiny.

By: Doc Rampage

Doc Rampage — Thu, 14 Jul 2005 22:03:23 +0000

But “bald-faced” can be double entendric (yes, I just adjectived a noun. I also occasionally verb nouns.) when used in the caption of a picture. Say of James Carville.