/ˈlyːɡn̩ viː ɡəˈdʁʊkt/ lit. ‘lie like print’
German idiom, colloquial. To lie shamelessly while knowing full well it isn’t true.
Draft Not yet checked by a native German speaker.
How do people use Lügen wie gedruckt
?
Colloquial and quite blunt, said about a person you think is lying through their teeth, often as a warning: “Glaub ihm nicht, der lügt wie gedruckt!” It’s almost always in the present, “er lügt wie gedruckt”, though the past works too (“sie log wie gedruckt”). It’s an accusation, so saying it about someone in the room is rude.
Lügen wie gedruckt
in real sentences
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Er lügt wie gedruckt.
He is lying through his teeth.
Tatoeba, sentence by Espi, translation by CK, CC BY 2.0 FR
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Glaube ihm nicht, er lügt wie gedruckt!
Don’t believe him, he’s lying through his teeth!
Tatoeba, sentence by sigfrido, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does Lügen wie gedruckt
come from?
The Redensarten-Index records “lügen, als wanns gedruckt wäre” (lie as if it were printed) from around 1650. It reads the phrase as old distrust of print, where no author stands in front of you to vouch for the words, and quotes Johann Fischart in 1623 saying that a printed lie gets dressed up. A competing reading, which the same source also gives, is that a good liar sounds as believable as something printed in black and white.
Mistakes learners make with Lügen wie gedruckt
Saying “lügen wie gedrückt”. “Gedrückt” with an umlaut means pressed or squeezed; the idiom is about print, “gedruckt”, without the dots.
Other German idioms like Lügen wie gedruckt
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?
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