The expression “don’t lie or your nose will grow” became a common saying after Walt Disney released the film “Pinocchio” in 1940. Pinocchio was a popular series written by Carlo Collodi that first appeared on July 7, 1881, in the Italian Giornale dei Bambini (Children’s Magazine).

The story was titled “Le avventure di Pinocchio: storia di un burattino” (The Adventures of Pinocchio: The Story of a Puppet). Collodi later published the series as a book in 1883. The author, the son of a cook and a maid, was 55 at the time. He was working as a censor for the theater when gambling losses prompted him to draft a story for the children’s journal.