Alex J.
In regard to ‘white lies’: I meant to call but I didn’t have my phone with me, I can’t come to your mother’s this weekend because the boss has me working on a special project, I LOVED that movie… These are things we say that range from exxageration to outright lying. I use white lies with women for the same reason I (and most people, including women) use them in everyday life: they don’t harm anyone significantly and they make life easier.
Big lies, on the other hand, I never tell. If there’s something so important that I would jeopardize my relationship with someone, my view is that she deserves to hear the reason. However, many men feel big lies are justified in special cases: if the subject being lied about was an accident and will not be repeated (i.e. cheating on someone while drunk), if what happened would be misinterpreted, etc.