From Venerable Fulton Sheen

There is a difference between blarney and boloney. Blarney is the varnished truth; boloney is the unvarnished lie. Blarney is flattery laid on so thin you love it; boloney is flattery laid on so thick you hate it.

To tell a woman who is forty, “You look like sixteen”, is boloney. The blarney way of saying it is “Tell me how old you are; I should like to know at what age women are most beautiful.”

I once saw an Irishman get up in the subway and give his seat to a lady. She said, “You are a jewel.”

He said, “Lady, I am a jeweler; I set jewels.” That is blarney.

—Venerable Fulton J. Sheen

From the book, “Life is Worth Living”, on our site here:http://goo.gl/um990