No Stupid QuestionsFreakonomics Radio + StitcherAll episodes

171. Where Is the Line Between Exaggeration and Lying?

Why do we use “literally” figuratively? Does conveying an "emotional truth" justify making things up? And are Angela’s kids really starving or just hungry?

RESOURCES:

• "My Response to The New Yorker Article," by Hasan Minhaj (YouTube video, 2023).
• "Hasan Minhaj’s 'Emotional Truths,'" by Clare Malone (The New Yorker, 2023).
• "Lying to Spice up Life," by Holly Cole (Society for Personality and Social Psychology, 2019).
• Words on the Move: Why English Won't - and Can't - Sit Still (Like, Literally), by John McWhorter (2016).
• "Literally," entry by Deathmatch1127 (Urban Dictionary, 2015).
• "Does Living in California Make People Happy? A Focusing Illusion in Judgments of Life Satisfaction," by David A. Schkade and Daniel Kahneman (Psychological Science, 1998).
• The Giver, by Lois Lowry (1993).

EXTRAS:

• "Swearing Is More Important Than You Think," by Freakonomics Radio (2023).
• "The Ugly Truth of Fast Fashion," S5.E3 of Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj (2019).

SOURCES:

• Holly Cole, assistant professor of psychology at Wesleyan College.
• Daniel Kahneman, professor emeritus of psychology and public affairs at Princeton University.
• Mark Liberman, professor of linguistics and computer and information science at the University of Pennsylvania.
• Lois Lowry, author.
• John McWhorter, professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia Unviersity.
• Hasan Minhaj, comedian.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.