tall tales
Exaggerated adventure yarns
Tall tales are exaggerated or outlandish stories, typically presented with a straight face as if true.
The genre flourishes in folk tradition—Paul Bunyan and his giant blue ox, Pecos Bill riding a tornado.
The term also applies more loosely to any implausible account: He's always telling tall tales about his adventures.
The teller may intend humor or deception.
- liesDeliberate untruths
- stretching the truthExaggerating while claiming honesty
- exaggerationOverstating beyond reality
- fairy talesTraditional magical children's stories
- unbelievableImpossible to accept as true
hard to believe · folklore · storytelling · fable · folk heroes · Pecos Bill · Appalachian folklore · trickster tales · Johnny Appleseed · oral tradition · legend · Paul Bunyan · fish stories · embellishment · campfire stories · feats · yarn spinning · tall stories
- folklorefairy tales, fairytales, folktales, folk tales, folk tale
- comedy termsjokes, puns, wit, sarcasm, irony
- Local Folklorefolk tales, myths, legends, urban legends, ghost stories
- story typesmyth, fable, fables, legend, drama
- storytelling traditionsfairy tales, folk tales, legends, folklore, myths
- Appalachian folklorefolk traditions, folklore traditions, mountain ballads, ghost stories, folk remedies
tall talesnonfiction
Literature about real events
historical records · hard facts · verified accounts · eyewitness testimony · documentary
tall talesunderstatement
Intentional diminishment for effect
plain speech · spare prose · straight talk · deadpan delivery · litotes
tally, taller, tallest, tallness, tallish, tallboy, tallyman, tall tale, tall order