fib

"Fifteen" の主人公JaneはStan とのデートを許され、デートに行く日の朝、髪を洗いました。
First of all, she decided that her hair simply would not do, so she washed it and put it up in pin curls, each one clamped with two bobby pins.
'Why, Jane, I thought you washed your hair day before yesterday,' remarked Mrs. Purdy.
'Did I? I don't remember,' fibbed Jane, staring critically at herself in the mirror.
"Fifteen" では何故かJaneの父母の事を her father/mother とは表現せず、Mr. PurdyとMrs. Purdyと呼びます。　今日は上の引用文に出てくる単語 "fib" を是非覚えたい。
・Vocabulary.com: tell a relatively insignificant lie: “Fibbing is not acceptable, even if you don't call it lying”
・Cambridge Advanced Learner's English Dictionary: to tell a small lie which does not cause any harm, sometimes in a playful way: I can tell he's fibbing because he's smiling!
"fib" は名詞としても使われます。
・American Heritage Dictionary: An insignificant or childish lie.
"lie" と比べると罪の無い、少ないウソでした。