|
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 1
stranger
|
OP
stranger
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 1 |
I want to find the word for a person or the action of telling a false statement without trying to mislead someone. The belief of the statement is held by the person passing on the information. Is there such a word?
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
Pooh-Bah
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
Welcome wordsearcher. There are several ways to describe such a scenario. Suppose Bob has told Jim that all cats are purple, incorrectly, but in the sincere belief that it is so. The most concise way to describe this would be to say "Bob erroneously told Jim that all cats are purple." I don't know of a verb that specifically means to unintentionally say something untrue.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 1,773
Pooh-Bah
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 1,773 |
misspeak
As used by late-century pols
dalehileman
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
Pooh-Bah
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
Wait, I do know of the word misspeak!
I guess I misspoke when I said I knew of no such word.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
Misspeak to me means something different. If I mistakenly say that A is true when I know that A is untrue, and if that mistake is simply a mistake, that's a misspeaking. But if I say that A is true when I know that A is untrue and I am trying to hoodwink you, that's nothing more nor less than a lie.
But wordsearcher is looking for a word that describes a person who says wrongly that A is true and sincerely believes it, even though A is not true. IMHO misspeak doesn't do that.
TEd
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526
veteran
|
veteran
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526 |
I agree with Ted regarding the usage of "misspeak."
We have a lot of nuanced ways to say that a person is lying, but fewer ways of conveying that the person speaking is simply mistaken or deluded. If no simpler term is found, you might try some variation of one of these phrases:
perpetuating a myth spreading an urban legend disseminating a falsehood expressing a delusion promulgating an unexamined (or erroneous) belief
There would be some utility for me in such a term since I've had many occasions to use more awkward phrases myself.
"I have finally come to understand that most people who reject [the theory of] evolution do so not because they are particularly stupid or because they are lying, but because what they *know* about the subject amounts to little more than barbershop gossip."
Last edited by TheFallibleFiend; 03/23/06 04:01 PM.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
delusional? Peggy came up with that, and while it has some baggage with it about mental state, a person who is self-deluded might well make such a statement. Dictionary.com says that a delusion is a false belief or opinion: labored under the delusion that success was at hand.
And would someone PLEASE tell me where my Roget's is? I have frisked all the usual suspects (hiding places in this case) and cannot find it!
TEd
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
> Roget you rang?
formerly known as etaoin...
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
he doesn't look a thing like me.
formerly known as etaoin...
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,372
Members9,182
|
Most Online3,341 Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
0 members (),
767
guests, and
1
robot. |
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|