Difference between "mispoke" and lie?

Question

Is there a difference between misspoke and lie? Like yesterday, my doctor asked me if I exercised, and I said yes, I "cycle everyday". He repeated back "everyday" to me and I said "ok, let me clarify, I exercise the majority of days". Which is true.

I blushed though and felt bad. Did I lie to my doctor?

If you correct yourself, is it a lie?

Answer 1

Mispoke is accidental in-advertant.
A lie is intentionally misleadiong.

Answer 2

A lie is intent to deceive.
Misspoke is you said the wrong thing.

Morally speaking? You did the right thing by correcting yourself.
Sometimes the situation doesn't even need correction. i.e. you exercise a "majority" more than most and that should make your doctor happy nonetheless. Never let a doc intimidate you or make you feel bad.

Answer 3

The difference is "intent". If you meant to deceive the person, then it was a lie. If you said it in an unclear manner, or were incorrect about your facts (but thought they were true), or you said one word when you meant another, it is a mispeak.

Your conversation with the doctor sounds like a mispeak because when he repeated it back, you realized that his understanding was not you intented meaning, and correct it.

Answer 4

If you are lying, you are telling someone something you know is not true. If you misspeak, you did not know all the facts before you spoke, therefore, are not lying.
You knew you did not cycle Every day, yet you told the doctor you did, so yes, that was a lie.

Answer 5

Lying requires a willful intent to deceive. You can say something that is just wrong, or misspoken, without lying. The kid who puts down that 2+2= 5 on his math test is not lying, even though he is clearly wrong.
In your case, what you meant to say was that you cycle a lot, and I think eventually you made that point. You were not trying to hide the truth. So...not a lie.

Answer 6

To lie you have to be trying to deceive the asker...to mispeak isn't a lie...its an error in your choice of words...

There's a big difference between deception and an improper use of language...

It's all in the intent of the speaker...and we all know the difference between being vague on purpose to deceive and being vague because you can't come up with the right words to convey your feelings at that very moment...

Answer 7

Actually, not only were Iraqis dying at the rate of 2000 per month during the Clinton food-for-oil sanctions regime (mostly children under age 5 were dying because the US forbid them to import chlorine to purify their drinking water) but Clinton also bombed Sudan's only malaria medication factory, in fact the only medicine factory in Africa. That Sudanese factory was also the only factory supplying Iraqi cows with a treatment against a biological warfare worm that previously only existed in America. Basically Clinton's goal was to kill Iraqis by destroying their food supply. Bush has a more straightforward approach. Republicans like to burn people to death, Democrats prefer poor people to die slowly slowly and quietly.

Answer 8

If it was an accident you mi spoke, if you did it deliberately (even if embarrassed) it is a lie. your doctor has seen this before I am sure. Just don't do it in close personal relationships. No one likes to be on the spot but honesty really is the best policy.

Answer 9

No, a lie implies intentionally making a statement that is not true. You need to have intent. To miscalculate or forget is an error and occurs involuntarily, hence, not a lie.

Answer 10

That's good you caught yourself. It was a lie but you made it right in the same conversation which is better than most people who lie. Its good to keep yourself straight. Better you than someone else!