No lie! Italy seems like land of the fib

Italy, the birthplace of Pinocchio, seems to be a land of chronic liars.

A survey published Saturday by Riza Psicosomatica, a monthly psychology review, said 70 percent of 360 Italian men and women interviewed had confessed to telling between five and 10 lies every day."Don't worry about it. It's all been taken care of," was the most common lie told, the publication said.

It said 42 percent of Italians fibbed to avoid conflicts, 27 percent to cover up errors and 21 percent for the good of some other person.

Two-thirds of the self-confessed chronic liars were women who lied in love affairs. Men were more mendacious on the job, the survey said.

Other top fibs included "I know all about that" - commonly told on the job, plus "I'll always love you," "That looks great on you" and "How nice to see you."

An Italian, Carlo Collodi, invented the world's most famous liar in 1883 when he published Pinocchio, a morality tale about a wooden puppet who becomes a boy and whose nose grows longer every time he tells a lie.