Two Signals Even Careful Liars Struggle to Control
The truth is under pressure.
Public trust is down. People expect spin from leaders, half-truths from institutions, and strategic ambiguity from anyone with something at stake. In that environment, bluffing isn’t rare—it’s normal.
Which makes one skill invaluable: knowing when the person across from you is not being fully candid.
This isn’t about cartoon lies—the shifty eyes and obvious evasions. Those are easy. This is about the harder case: someone who looks you straight in the eye and calmly tells you something that doesn’t sit right.
Bulldog Lawyers learn to spot those moments early—because deals, trials, and partnerships turn on them.
Why Most Lies Leak
Most people are not natural liars.
They may shade the truth. They may omit details. They may rationalize. But when generally honest people mislead, their body often rebels. Not dramatically. Subtly.
There are two tells that show up again and again—even among disciplined professionals:
- Talking through the hand
- Choking on words
Neither proves deception by itself. But together, they are powerful indicators that something is off.
Talking Through the Hand: The Subconscious Block
When someone covers or partially blocks their mouth while speaking, pay attention.
This can be:
- A finger brushing the lips
- A hand rising to the chin
- Papers lifted between face and listener
- A gesture that briefly interrupts a clear view of the speaker’s mouth
Why it matters:
Subconsciously, the speaker is trying to stop the words from coming out.
Most people feel internal resistance when misleading someone they know should hear the truth. The hand becomes a barrier—small, quick, often unnoticed by the speaker themselves
A familiar scenario
Someone owes you help. They know it. They don’t want to deliver.
So they tell you something technically true but strategically incomplete.
As they do, a finger touches the lips. Just for a second.
That second matters.
Experienced liars minimize these gestures, but even they slip—papers shift, hands rise “for emphasis,” objects get placed between faces. Bulldogs don’t stare at hands. They watch whether anything interrupts the line of sight at the moment a key statement is made.
If it does, assume the statement deserves scrutiny.
Choking on Words: When the Speaker Doesn’t Believe It Either
Confidence sounds smooth.
When someone stumbles, hesitates, or chokes on a key phrase, it often means they don’t believe what they’re saying—or doubt its effect.
This shows up as:
- A sudden pause before a critical word
- A breath taken in an odd place
- A stumble on a prediction or promise
- A restart mid-sentence
These moments aren’t about nervousness. They’re about the speaker’s internal conflict.
Statements that are true—or genuinely believed—tend to come out clean. When belief falters, speech falters with it.
Even trained speakers experience this. The difference is whether they recover cleanly—or whether the hesitation reveals doubt that lingers.
When you hear a stumble at the exact point where conviction matters, start questioning the premise.
What Bulldogs Do with This Information
Bulldogs don’t accuse.
They don’t pounce.
They don’t announce, “You’re lying.”
They file the data.
When these signals appear:
- Slow the conversation
- Ask neutral follow-up questions
- Reconfirm assumptions
- Delay commitment
The goal is not confrontation. The goal is clarity.
Lies collapse quickly under calm, precise questioning—not outrage.
The Bulldog Rule
Most people don’t like lying.
Their bodies know it—even when their mouths don’t.
If you see:
- A hand blocking the truth, or
- Words tripping over belief
Assume there’s more to the story.
Bulldogs don’t guess.
They observe—and then they decide.
