Is 「うそおっしゃい」 to be taken literally here? In the video game Ripening Tingle's Balloon Trip of Love, the protagonist Tingle meets a fortune teller who demonstrates her powers to him. She asks him, "You come from a far away town, right?" If Tingle answers, "No", she responds: > ! > Now, from what I understand, `` means, "You're lying". However, since she continues with "I understand, you're lost...", it doesn't sound like she really disbelieves. In this context, is `` to be taken literally, or is it a set phrase expressing astonishment like, "You must be kidding" ?

First, is the imperative form of the verb []{}, which is the honorific form of []{}.

means the exact **_opposite_** of what it means literally. Its literal meaning is "Tell a lie!", but that is clearly not something a person would say under normal circumstances, is it?.

Thus, always means

> "Don't lie (to me)!"

A more common form is:

>

which also literally means "Tell a lie!", actually means "Don't lie!" 100% of the time.

The nuance of these phrases is "Lie all you want; I can see through you!", "Lie if you want but it won't work!", etc. Thus, you are, in essence, saying "C'mon, don't lie to me!" These expressions are loosely called []{}.

(Nothing to do with the question, really, but in this context means "I". The speaker is using it like a first-person pronoun in talking to a younger person. This is very common in Japanese.)