Do you embellish your stories?

[krazykidd]

That's called lying. Unless you make it clear that you've strayed into the realm of fiction then it's not really appropriate, no.

Also it's embellish, not trying to be a dick, just so you know.

This . Also i hate people that exaggerate events . I mean seriously , just tell it as it is . I knew a girl would would exaggerate EVERYTHING, i eventually stop believing anything she said , because she was obviously trying too hard to impress me .

I personally don't embellish my stories . If a story needs embellishing, it's not worth telling.

 

[Phrozenflame500]

I don't bullshit unless everyone around me knows I'm bullshitting them. If I need to bullshit to make a story less boring, I don't tell it.

 

[Something Amyss]

I always tell 200% truth.

...But seriously, I can be a touch hyperbolic when excited, or bored, but....

 

[jesse220]

I think people may have gotten the wrong idea about what I meant. Not making up events that never happened or altering non-events into sprawling epics. Just taking things that are already good stories and re-jiggering it so the comedy/excitement/oddity is more polished and more fun to listen to. And to all those who never do this, would you be offended if you learned a story being told to you was embellished?

 

[The Almighty Aardvark]

I'll exaggerate, but not to the point of inaccuracy. I mean, if I'm telling someone about an awkward encounter I might say "They looked at me like I was out of my mind," when in reality it might have just been a slightly skeptical look. I won't pretend something happened if it didn't at all, or invent extra lines of dialogue, except to the extent that I forget the exact words that were said so I have to approximate them. It depends on what you mean by embellish really. If you're going to outright lie about events it's probably better not to do it in front of other people who were there.

I think this level of embellishment is fine. I have a friend who goes way farther than this though, to the point where I won't believe any stories I hear from him. I'll just wait until I hear the account from someone else. Also I agree about not lying about events in front of people who're there. It gives them two choices in that situation, make you look like a tool in front of everyone else, or get dragged into the lie with you

I think people may have gotten the wrong idea about what I meant. Not making up events that never happened or altering non-events into sprawling epics. Just taking things that are already good stories and re-jiggering it so the comedy/excitement/oddity is more polished and more fun to listen to. And to all those who never do this, would you be offended if you learned a story being told to you was embellished?

Just to what degree are you embellishing stories? The friend I was talking about uses real events as a basis and then just twists a good deal of the details to make it sound more entertaining than it is. As I said above, I don't mind the occasional exaggerations, but it's the kind of thing that can quite easily get out of hand. I wouldn't be offended, I just would make a habit of not believing your stories.

 

[Heronblade]

Make details up? No. Exaggerate a detail or two by a little bit? Sure, at least when the purpose of the telling is amusement.

Generally speaking, others can be confident that what I present as the truth is indeed, at least from my perspective, the truth. If it isn't interesting enough to tell without lying, I just won't tell it.

And yes, if a story is presented as actually having occurred, finding out that the actual event occurred quite differently can be more than a little disappointing.

 

[Ryotknife]

Yes, but I make it painfully obvious when im embellishing. Almost always for comedic affect rather than empowering myself (in fact usually when I embellish I make myself look worse than what actually happened).

 

[bigfatcarp93]

I embellish a bit. All good stories deserve embellishing, after all. ===]

 

[omega 616]

I guess it depends on what you mean by embellished.

Do you mean instead of the balloon popping, it was a window rattling, deafening explosion, as if god slammed a car door or do you mean altering the story to make you look like butter wouldn't melt and the other person is Satan himself.

If you mean the first, then sometimes I add some artistic flare... I think if you're telling a story you should, don't lie but imagine reading your favorite book with most descriptions taken out, instead of "her blonde hair danced from the gentle breeze, the dim yellow glow of a street lighting illuminated her face as she waited for her husband" it instead said "she waited for her husband", it just lacks something.

As for the latter, I fucking hate it. Instead of a clear story, you have 2 that conflict and then you have to get other people involved and it's a whole big ordeal.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

I have a growing theory that people misremember events, not on purpose but just because their brain fills in memory gaps with information, whatever it might be. Depending on the length of time between the event and the current telling of the story, the embellishment grows. I think its totally unconscious, and really harmless because we all do it at some point. I know I've done it because I'd swear something happened a certain way but others who were present tell a slightly different story and none of us really can agree who's right.
So yeah I do... I once caught a fish that talked, and since we're talking I've got a bridge I can sell you.

 

[Jamieson 90]

Not at all, in fact I often only include the cold hard facts and pretty much cut to the chase; I guess it's due to the fact that I hate listening to a story that drags on and on, I'm always like "Get to the fucking point already."

 

[DanielBrown]

No. Based on what you say in the OP you're pretty much just lying to get a story. Exaggerating is usually fine, and kind of expected in funny stories, but making stuff up and passing it off as real isn't. If I have a something to tell it's because something fun/weird did happen. No need to embellish it.
I mostly tell stories when drunk though, so who knows what I actually say.

 

[Not Matt]

no. but i try to make them sound good by pushing the facts around and proportioning and editing it. never adding or changing the facts.

 

[Juste Goose]

I don't. I used to when I was a teenager, but I grew out of it. I try not to lie to my friends.

It's like, if you embellished one detail to make your story better, how do people know you're not making the whole thing up?

 

[The_Echo]

I'll make exaggerations, but the exaggerations are for emphasis purposes and incredibly obvious ("the guy was like a thousand feet tall").

Barring that, I tell any story with 100% accuracy.