Telling a small lie make people feel better or for other reasons which do not harm anybody or anything. Saying that a person likes what another person is wearing, even though they do not, is a white lie. Often the purpose of a white lie is to protect someone from being upset. This might happen when a child or elderly persons hears that someone has died. The opposite choice is sometimes called being "brutally honest". It means that a person tells true things that hurt people instead of hiding the truth. White lies should not be confused with sarcasm.