To wonder why people dramatize a story when retelling it?

[Orangedots]

Listening to someone retell an event that a group of us enjoyed together.

They’ve embellished it somewhat and I’m not entirely sure why. To get sympathy? To make it more dramatic?

I mean things like if the journey took 3 hours, they tell everyone it took 4. Waited 30 minutes for food, told everyone It was an hour wait.

These are just vague examples as don’t want to be outing, but this person does this regularly. When asked about it they deny it or query others accounts.

Anyone else do this and if so, please can you explain why?

My stepfather daughter was a very big baby for the age. All through my childhood he related how she was 11lb (this was back when an 8lb baby was considered huge; my Mum was shocked when Prince William was born weighing 8lb). Anyway the other day we were talking about babies and he said: "well of course our Tracey was twelve pound!"

Telling entertaining stories and 'gossip' is a human evolutionary thing, I've read. Early language, group cohesion and all that.

And chatting shit remains as an essential part of being human.

Pretty much what we do on MN.

Surely everyone does this?
Have you ever watched the weather forecast? It’s never just an ordinary day in March/July/October etc, it’s always the wettest/hottest/coldest/driest since records began.
I hardly dare mention Covid, aren’t we all going to die from it and no one ever dies from anything else if you listen to the news.

Context is everything. Embellishing a story to make it funnier and more entertaining to listen to without actually causing anyone harm is fine in my book. So exaggerating a wait for food as a line in a long story of a day where everything went wrong, fine. Complaining about a waiter leaving you an hour when they've done no such thing is very different.

Same things with trolls on here. A funny Saturday night thread about parking or a wedding I have a no problem with. All in good fun. A troll thread about a sensitive topic is despicable.

My late mother used to do this. In fact, she embellished events so much that I didn't even recognise them and I was there!!!

It became awful in later life though as my father developed dementia and she used it as an excuse to get back at him for a very acrimonious marriage. Social Services were involved but never believed me when I said she was mistreating him! They believed this 'lovely old lady' and all her lies. God it was so frustrating...

People lie about how bad childbirth and having children is, I think it's a cover to stop people thinking ' not gonna bother with that !' The human race may have died out years ago if people had told the absolute truth lol 😂
Some parents forget the bad days as they grow up!! My late mil certainly did!

@the80sweregreat

People lie about how bad childbirth and having children is, I think it's a cover to stop people thinking ' not gonna bother with that !' The human race may have died out years ago if people had told the absolute truth lol 😂 Some parents forget the bad days as they grow up!! My late mil certainly did!

Childbirth for me was nowhere near as bad as people told me it would be. It think in some cases it's massively exaggerated.

for attention

My friend does this

She is a very funny story teller I am not as I tend to stick to the truth and add too many details I bore people with my stories she amuses them

It’s not malicious what she is doing and I wish I could tell my stories as well as she tells hers

Childbirth might have died out eons ago if men had been with ones with the uterus ( or just even more embellished stories !)
😂

I knew someone who just lied : it wasn't just a tweak to a story , but she was caught out more than once because you have to have a fantastic memory if you do tend to lie about things to look good or whatever!

Don’t you feel bad for lying to people?
It isn't lying, it's an art good story telling making things interesting.

I knew someone who just lied : it wasn't just a tweak to a story,
Yes a compulsive liar is different. I had a friend who'd blatantly lie about everything. I genuinely believe she is fantasist I've known her most of my life she'd tell me she was a professional ballerina or was offer 1000's to be an escort for one night she refused . I had to break away from her, I feel bad however I couldn't listen anymore she loves to talk.

Do people think that stand up comedians who tell anecdotes are always giving a completely true and accurate account?

Because a good story is a short story, so sometimes you need to elide and exaggerate the key points.

No-one needs to hear a dry procession of facts if it's just for entertainment purposes.