a tale never loses in the telling
proverb A story is typically embellished, exaggerated, and added to with each retelling. A: "I've heard Tim tell his fishing story countless times, and each time he tells it the fish gets bigger and harder to catch." B: "No surprise. A tale never loses in the telling." I've never heard that part of the story before! I guess it's true that a tale never loses in the telling. A: "When I tell this story to my future kids, it'll be that we had to walk to school in the snow with no shoes uphill both ways!" B: "Well, they do say that a tale never loses in the telling!"
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
tale never loses in the telling
Prov. When people tell stories, they tend to exaggerate. Johnny's bicycle accident tale never loses in the telling; he convinced his friends that four semi trucks had been involved, when in fact he only ran into one parked car.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.