It's national honesty day ... so what are the 10 most common lies?

April kicks off with a day of lies and it ends with a day of honesty.

National Honesty Day — an American import — may not be as popular as April Fool’s Day, but its intentions are good.

Believe it or not, today is National Honesty Day.

Telling the truth isn’t always advisable, though. If, for example, you arrive home three hours late and try to blame it on being kept in the office, don’t expect bouquets from your beloved, particularly if she/he knows you frequent a pub called The Office.

However, if you must be economical with the truth, size matters so if you have to a lie, make it a double whopper. Never, ever blame traffic if you’re late. Instead, explain how you were stung by a wasp taking a shortcut through the fields and as it turns out you’re allergic to wasp stings and if it hadn’t been for a kindly nurse out for a stroll you wouldn’t be here to tell the tale.

If you arrive home late of a Friday smelling like a brewery, swear blind you only had the one with lunch and that the smell was from the bad company you were with.

Little details matter, too. If you’re ringing work to say you have to go to a funeral, don’t forget that you’ve already buried both grandmothers. Bosses remember that sort of thing.

To mark National Honesty Day, 11850, Ireland’s number one directory enquiry service (honestly!) put together a list of the top 10 little white lies we tell on a daily basis.

But why reproduce those faithfully when you can enjoy tweaking them a bit?

1. “I’m fine” — announced by everybody at least once a day. It is the most common white lie we tell ourselves as much as others.

2. “I’ll be there is two seconds” — means anything from five minutes to half an hour.

3. “I’ll do it tomorrow” — Whether it’s the gym, tidying the garage or painting the garden fence, tomorrow is another day.

4.”That was delicious” — uttered by well-mannered guests savouring tripe and drisheen in a Cork household.

5. “Sorry I’m late. Traffic was brutal” — or was it that extra half hour in bed?

6. “I’m only staying for one” — fast forward five hours and you find yourself walking barefoot past Sinn Féin headquarters singing Rule Britannia.

7. “Sorry I missed your call” — code for “I did not want to talk to you, you boring old fart”.

8. “Oh this old thing.. I’ve had it for ages” – Uttered by all women to their husbands/partners/mothers/ financial advisers.

9.”I’ll be ready in five minutes” — every woman’s most frequent fib, especially before a night out.

10. “I’ll be home in five minutes — every man’s most frequent fib, especially when leaving the pub.

Friedrich Nietzsche wrote: “Lying is a necessity of life...” He did, honest. Would I lie to you?