tell tall tales
Meaning: To tell exaggerated or untrue stories.
Language: English
Literally: (Already vivid in English)
Example: “Grandpa loves to tell tall tales about the bear he once wrestled.”
Category: Daily Life
Origin: "Tall" had meant lofty or grandiloquent since the early 1600s, and 19th-century Americans spoke of "tall talk" and "tall stories" for boastful exaggeration. "Tall tale" became the usual form in the early 1900s, and also names a genre of American frontier folklore.
Other ways to say this
- French: Raconter des salades — literally: To tell salads
- Russian: Не вешай лапшу на уши (Ne veshay lapshu na ushi) — literally: Don't hang noodles on my ears
- Latvian: Pūst pīlītes — literally: To blow little ducks
- Russian: пудрить мозги (pudrit' mozgi) — literally: to powder the brains
- Russian: развесистая клюква (razvestistaya klyukva) — literally: spreading cranberry
- English: pull the wool over someone's eyes
- French: Jeter de la poudre aux yeux — literally: To throw powder in the eyes
More idioms — Daily Life
- that ship has sailed — It is too late; the opportunity has passed.
- talk behind someone's back — To say unkind things about someone when they are not present.
- be on pins and needles — To be very anxious while waiting for something.
- make a killing — To make a lot of money quickly.
- lie low — To stay out of sight and avoid attention.
- get lucky — To succeed in having a sexual encounter.
More English idioms
- navel-gaze — To be absorbed in oneself and one's own concerns to an excessive degree.
- be a pain in the neck — To be very annoying.
- have one's cake and eat it too — To want two things that cannot both be had.
- muddy the waters — To make a situation confusing, often on purpose.
- be bone idle — To be extremely lazy.
- like pulling teeth — Extremely difficult, especially when trying to get someone to cooperate.
From our proverbs
- Man doth what he can, and God what He will. — Effort and intention matter, yet outcomes ultimately depend on forces beyond human contro…
- A bushel of March dust is worth a king's ransom. — Spring plowing requires dry soil; early-season dust signals ideal conditions for successf…
- A man must sell his ware at the rate of the market. — Accept prevailing conditions rather than resist them; pricing yourself against market rea…