Deception is not a strong foundation for a relationship, but sometimes guys weave incredibly elaborate stories to impress their dates. Why? Perhaps he thinks it will make him more attractive to his new lady. Maybe it’s even a form of flattery: A guy must think highly of his potential sweetheart if he’s willing to weave an alternate history just to make a good impression. But sometimes that phony history can get a guy into a lot of trouble:

Big whoppers
"I once told a girl that I’d been a Marine sniper," says Malcolm, 26, "I’d never held a gun in my life, but she was one of those 'big guns are cool' women, and I saw an opportunity. When her dad turned out to be a real Marine, he was full of questions about my company and who I knew. I had no idea how to respond, so I mumbled that I didn’t like to talk about it and got out of there. She figured it out pretty quickly after that."

"Would I do something like that again? No, I doubt it," Malcolm laughs. "I think I’m going to be single for a while."

And the world breathes a collective sigh of relief.

Little white lies
Others take a more subtle approach:

"I fudged my college credentials a little," says Darren, 24, "by advancing my degree a bit. I didn’t say I was a Rhodes scholar or anything. As far as I know, she never doubted it. But now we’re engaged, and I’m going to have a Master’s in psychology for the rest of my life."

It could have been worse: Imply that you’re a trauma surgeon and Murphy’s Law dictates that, at some point, you’ll be called to perform an emergency procedure while on a date.

"The trick is never to say anything that you’re going to have to live up to," says Bowman, 26. "I tend to think that you’re going to get caught at one point or another, so it’s probably not worth it. If this girl turns out to be 'the one,' and you’ve rewritten your personal history to make yourself look cooler, you’ll have serious problems when she finds out that you work at a car wash and never once went undercover for the CIA. It’s embarrassing, and she’ll have a right to be mad."

Truth or consequences
I guess some men never grow out of school-yard tactics to impress the girls. At 12-years old, a little white lie was okay. Once he’s reached adulthood, though, a guy has to question why he’s reinventing himself — just to get the girl or to bolster his own ego?

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