Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them

Valentine: Your new computer is fabulous.
Alice: Thank you! Isn't it great watching television from my bed?
Valentine: I didn't go on your bed.
Alice: Yes you did. Nick told me so. And the sheets were rumpled.
Valentine: Yeah, it is great.

This phenomenon of the quick surrender to a white lie needs a name. Or does it already have one? It's arguably most prevalently used among adults, for most kids are too stubborn or invested in testing boundaries to so quickly give up. It can serves either a utilitarian function or a comic function. The two possible outcomes are of equal merit. Either the liar successfully dupes the receiver, thereby maintaining the illusion that he or she is better than in reality; or, the liar fails, and the receiver finds it amusing that the liar thought he or she could pass such a frivolous and obviously false piece of frivolous information as the truth, and, thanks to the laugh, the receiver's perception of the liar's person is only incrementally changed.