Random question:

[conuly]

If you randomly make something up to settle an argument or to get your way, and by sheer chance you happen to be correct, does it still constitute lying?

Like, consider all those signs swearing that the only reason you cannot wear shoes in this store is because of the big mean health department. The health department doesn't actually care, and the store owners don't have any clue whether it cares or not, they just want a way to back up what is really an arbitrary dress code. (Which is fine, they can have as many rules as they like in their own establishment.) But what if, by coincidence, they happened to be in the one tiny municipality that happened to have that rule? Even though they really ought to have known that they didn't know the law, is it still a lie if it's accidentally true?

Comments

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's necessarily arbitrary, even if the Health Department has no such rule. It's probably the insurance lawyers who insist on shoes being worn so that nobody can sue the store because they stepped on a nail or something.

For sure, it's possible to lie and be wrong simultaneously. If one thinks the capitol of Ohio is Cleveland, but says it's Columbus, one is lying - trying to deceive somebody - and one is also wrong, even though what one actually says is true and accurate.

[conuly]

Interesting. I've yet to find the store that issues us all work boots upon entering in case something drops on our toes, nor insists that patrons wear helmets (in case you slip) and protective gloves (because you might slam your fingers in a door or cut them on the edge of a shelf or in a bookstore, on some paper), nor disallows people from picking their own produce because that is how germs spread.

Surely insurance companies could regulate all those as well under dubious safety grounds, but I don't see that.