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When you tell a story, do you often exaggerate or embellish it? If so, why?

post #1 of 24
7/21/08 at 9:57am
Thread Starter 
When you tell a story, do you often exaggerate or embellish it?
If so, why?
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post #2 of 24
7/21/08 at 10:44am
Depends on the context and for what effect.

When I talk about my old roommate's Burmese python that he kept in his sunroom, I prob exaggerate a bit on the size (It was about 8 feet and I describe it as "close to 10 feet"), but this is just for a humorous story in the pub.

K
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post #3 of 24
7/21/08 at 10:53am
eh sometimes, I just get carried away with telling a good tale, never let the truth get in the way of a good story and all that ... though I do usually find myself reverting back to the truth

in the example above I'd be something like this 'my friend's got this python that is close to 10 feet long ... its absolutely huge ...well closer to 8 feet maybe...anyway..'
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post #4 of 24
7/21/08 at 10:55am
I'd think a better story would be to tell her that your python is between 8 and 10 feet long, and you'd be happy to let her measure it back in your room
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post #5 of 24
7/21/08 at 11:06am
Generally no, because it introduces something else I have to remember. If I leave things as they are, I only have to remember things as they are. If I exaggerate, I have to remember what was, and also the version I told. If I have to repeat this story I also have to get the exaggeration right.

But, I will resort to outright, off-the-cuff fabrications to add color to a story.
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post #6 of 24
7/21/08 at 11:29am
No. If it isn't good enough to tell on its own, it isn't good enough to take time making stuff up for it.
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post #7 of 24
7/21/08 at 11:50am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Teacher View Post
No. If it isn't good enough to tell on its own, it isn't good enough to take time making stuff up for it.

+1

Most of the stories I tell are because of how absurd they are.
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post #8 of 24
7/21/08 at 2:10pm
I won't do it deliberately, but if I gauge that the story I'm telling isn't keeping the listeners as interested as I wish them to be I might spice it up. Usually don't do that though, I prefer to just say "...and then I found 10 bucks." Makes any story awesome.
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post #9 of 24
7/21/08 at 8:17pm
No.
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post #10 of 24
7/21/08 at 8:18pm
No--my life has been interesting enough already.
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post #11 of 24
7/22/08 at 12:56am
my father is a horrible exagerator, and I could see that if seriously effected how people reacted to what he had to say. I am very careful not to
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post #12 of 24
7/22/08 at 1:28pm
Only when I'm speaking about my member...
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post #13 of 24
7/22/08 at 1:48pm
I like to think that I don't but I find it rather impossible not too. Especially with grey area: sometimes you don't have to lie, you can just leave out a tiny bit or contextualize something slightly better, to make a story more interesting.
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post #14 of 24
7/22/08 at 5:34pm
I don't usually exaggerate much but I do a lot of speculating in the story, e.g. "I don't know if this guy was drunk, or narcoleptic, or just from Ballard, or what, but anyway" and I often go off on tangents until no one can remember what I was even talking about in the first place. Most people don't seem to doze off, so I guess it's tolerable.

Quote:
Originally Posted by TUspiv View Post
I won't do it deliberately, but if I gauge that the story I'm telling isn't keeping the listeners as interested as I wish them to be I might spice it up. Usually don't do that though, I prefer to just say "...and then I found 10 bucks." Makes any story awesome.

Nice, I'll remember that one.
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post #15 of 24
7/22/08 at 5:43pm
i think if you know how to tell a story, and know what stories to tell and what not to, you wont need to exaggerate. for instance my sister cant tell a story for shit. shell either tell every detail which makes you fall asleep by the time she gets to the main point, or she hits the main point, and you ask so? is that the point? you have to know how to time things. the best is doing something with someone who exaggerates and then going back and they tell the story, youre just thinking to yourself " i dont remember that happening".
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