Question on the term “Bald face lie”

Self - simple question | 12-11-2023 | Sel (wgm_alabama)

[wgmalabama]

When someone calls you a bald face liar. What type of lie is that? Is it a war accusation, Scruggs off, ignore …

Imagine it was your wife.

[natalie227]

Depends if it was a bald face lie or not.

[EEGator]

“A bald-faced lie is one that is obvious, unambiguous, and readily apparent—like the visage of a person unobscured by facial hair. Bald-faced is a pejorative term, as it more specifically means shameless or brazen.”

[Repeal The 17th]

Originally it was “bold faced liar”.

[Scrambler Bob]

Bald face liar=

If you don’t have a hairy butt, you would be lying out your a$$.

[rellic]

That was always my understanding.
Bold, not Bald.

[Bob434]

just guessing, but ‘bald-faced’ might mean that EVERYTHING is visible- nothing is hidden (As in hiding facial features behind a beard and stash maybe?), people see the person for what they are- a liar- they are fully exposed?

[Bob434]

kinda like the term ‘naked truth’ maybe?

[hardspunned]

I looked it up bald faced liar in the dictionary and found this.

Michael Richard Pence is an American politician who served as the 48th vice president of the United States from 2017 to 2021 under President Donald Trump.

[Ronaldus Magnus]

The original was a barefaced liar.

[House Atreides]

“ just guessing, but ‘bald-faced’ might mean that EVERYTHING is visible- nothing is hidden (As in hiding facial features behind a beard and stash maybe?), people see the person for what they are- a liar- they are fully exposed?”
**********************************************************

Correctamundo… IMHO.

[logi_cal869]

The lack of denial is rather amusing...

[budj]

Great question. Here's a decent treatment:

Bald/Bold Faced - Merriam Webster

[EEGator]

LOL...

[Bullish]

I've always argued with people that the term actually is "Bold Faced lie", meaning lying with a bold face, which makes far more sense than "Bald faced lie" which really makes none.

I believe the term came into existence as the former and the latter came to be because people get lazy about pronunciations over time. It's like the saying "turn over a new lease" which for some people has become "turn over a new leaf" for the same reason.

[Valpal1]

“Imagine it was your wife.”

She’s pissed and is probably planning your exit.

[DannyTN]

It means bearded women cannot lie.

[Chode]

lying to my face...

[Pythion.net]

I usually defer to Merriam Webster in such matters. They do their homework:

If you wanted a descriptor for such a lie in the 19th century, chances are you would have opted for barefaced (or in its slightly less common variant form, bare-faced). Lies (and, less frequently, liars) have been described as "barefaced" since at least the 1830s. The term was doing other jobs before it had that application, however. Since the late 16th century it's described those having the face uncovered, whether by being sans beard or sans mask. And in between, it developed the meaning "open, unconcealed," as in "barefaced impudence"—a descriptor for bold rudeness that paved the way for the "barefaced lie."
By the mid-20th century, it seems (though we can only speculate) that "barefaced lie" didn't sound awful enough, and the term bald-faced (less commonly, baldfaced) began to describe the lies and liars...
And then, in the late 20th century, the term bold-faced (less commonly, boldfaced) got into the game. Since the late 16th century (back when barefaced was first describing beardless folks), the word had meant "bold in manner or conduct," or "impudent." It was a word used to describe brazenly rude types. But in the second half of the 20th century the word began to modify lie, as well as liar, with a frequency that increased as the century wore on...
https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/is-that-lie-bald-faced-or-bold-faced-or-barefaced

[alexander_busek]

Question on the term “Bald face lie”

Come on, wgmalabama! We have more important "fish to fry" here at Free Republic than to speculate on the origin and usage of antiquated English expressions!

Say... Where do you suppose the phrase "fish to fry" actually originated?

Regards,