Thursday, December 11, 2008

Your Cheatin' Heart

Many lie over books 'to impress'

Could the right reading matter make all the difference?

Nearly half of all men and one-third of women have lied about what they have read to try to impress friends or potential partners, a survey suggests.

Men were most likely to do this to appear intellectual or romantic, found the poll of 1,500 people by Populus for the National Year of Reading campaign.

The men polled said they would be most impressed by women who read news websites, Shakespeare or song lyrics.

Women said men should have read Nelson Mandela's biography or Shakespeare.

Among the 1,500 who took part in the research were 864 teenagers.

About four in 10 of the 1,500 said they had lied about what they had read to impress friends or potential partners - 46% of men and 33% of women.

Among teenagers, the figure rose to 74%, with most saying they would pretend to have read social networking pages or song lyrics.

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So c'mon, fess up - have you ever lied about what you have or haven't read?
Gotta say I'm kinda guilty of this - being a bookie people look at you strangly if you have never read "the classics" like Austin and Hemingway and Dickens so it's easier just to nod and give non committal grunts which can be interpretted however the other person wants.

1 comment:

Heather said...

I am wondering if shakespeare was so high on the list coz they asked a heap of teenagers who are all taught it at school and it's fresh in their mind and possibly some of the few classic works/authors of classic works they know?

I absolutely DO NOT count song lyrics as reading and I've never judged a potential partner on what he has read.

I think I've read enough that I dont need to lie about what I have read, even though like you, there is an enormous gap where the classics should be.

Btw, my word verification is my nephew's name!