True Lies

I was interested this morning to hear about a particular sauce whose maker had been taken to court as it was claimed that he had stolen the recipe from a couple of friends.  There is nothing unusual about that.  What caught my attention was that the judge who considered him not guilty of the crime went on to say that however, 'he is a liar'.  Apparently he had gone on the programme 'Dragon's Den' claiming among other things that this was a recipe handed down in his family for generations - it was all lies.

Strangely, some of the comments made were that this was really creative marketing, a real entrepreneur, anything to get noticed and receive the financial help from a multi-millionaire and that the subsequent success of the product has proved its worth


It reminded me of a couple of weeks ago there had been complaints of adverts which claimed their product was 'unlimited' for the quoted price.  The problem is that here 'unlimited' doesn't really mean without a limit.  It means that there is freedom within this price range.  Some people found this out to their cost.  One consumer queried how, instead of his £38 a month bill, he actually received a bill for over £200!

So 'unlimited access' really means 'until you reach the limit'!  And 'as much as you can eat' really means 'as long as it's within a certain amount'!


Lewis Shand Smith, the communications ombudsman, says that such phrases should not be used as it is misleading but the advertising agency claims it is OK as long as you explain the limitations of 'unlimited'!

So, apparently it's alright to say something when you know it's not strictly true as long as you make money in the long run.


The Oxford Concise Dictionary says: lie - an intentionally false statement, be deceptive.  Maybe it's time they changed their definition!