liar

compulsive liar syndrome, the catch-all phrase the public uses for four separate behaviours. examined from the desk where the package costs more…

compulsive liar illness, the soft medical word the public reaches for. examined from the desk where ‘illness’ is what people choose when ‘choice’…

compulsive liar disease, the term that medicalizes a behaviour. examined from the desk where ‘disease’ is doing more work than the diagnosis ever…

persistent lying, examined as a duration not a diagnosis. how long the lying continues before it earns the persistence label, from the desk.

compulsive pathological liar (without the and), the search term that fuses two categories. examined from the desk where the missing conjunction is…

compulsive and pathological liar, the two words people use as if they meant the same thing. examined from the desk where i can tell you they don’t.

compulsive liar, the noun used most carefully by people who have just met one. examined from the desk where i have, by my reading, met three this…

a liar, the indefinite article version, examined from the desk where i have, this morning, told two of them already. one of many, possibly small,…

compulsive lying treatment, looked at from the third floor between meetings. plain words about a habit that signs its own apology card.