Some of our friends tell taller tales than others. But which one of their BS stories turned out to be 100 percent true?
That's the burning question Redditor KenzoDeBola asked the online community: "What's a story your friend told which you initially thought was bullshit, but turned out to be true?
Fasten your seatbelts, ladies and gents.
"A bomb dropped by the Germans..."
My great-grandad was in the British Navy in WW2. A bomb dropped by the Germans landed on their ship but didn't detonate, so my grandad and his friend ran towards it and hurled it off the ship where it exploded under water. They figured that they were going to die anyway if it exploded so why not try and save as many as possible in the process. This story went on for years and years and nobody quite believed him, they would all laugh and thought it was just a war-hero's exaggerated tale, until one day he pulled out his war medals and a letter from his Captain stating what he had done for the men on that ship that day.
Nobody second-guessed his stories ever again.
"No one believed him until..."
In 9th grade, during the middle of our teenage angst, a friend in our clique was bragging about sleeping this pretty hot chick.
No one believed him until we all found out she had gotten pregnant.
"She's super nice and has a lot of stories like this..."
My best friend in college was a non-traditional (way older) student who said she used to be an on-stage go go dancer for Rob Zombie. She's super nice and has a lot of stories like this (working in a strip club in LA, working as Sasha Mitchell's nanny and talking to police during the domestic charges). I didn't believe most of the stories until we were hanging out one night and Rob Zombie walked in the side door without knocking holding a gift: an old Super Nintendo he found at a garage sale.
"When we first met in high school..."
When we first met in high school, my husband told me that he slept in a closet under the stairs in his basement. Thought he was just exaggerating until we went over and saw his "bedroom" complete with his name on the closet door.
"Went out on Halloween a couple years ago..."
GiphyWent out on Halloween a couple years ago to a bar. My one friend came back from the washroom and nonchalantly mentions that there's an "Australian Orgy" going on in the washroom. I didn't believe him so I went in to look...This was in Toronto and not in a gay bar.
"I brushed it off..."
One of my friends always liked to "exaggerate" he once told me he just made like $10K from a penny stock. I brushed it off as bullsh*t until the next day he shows up with a used boat, we lived close to a few lakes so that was a fun summer.
"My mom swore up and down that..."
My mom swore up and down that she partied with Aerosmith regularly. For years and years she told me the stories about being a groupie and I just didn't buy it (don't know why because she lived in the valley and was a major partier)
One day we see Joe Perry at the Ritz in LA. He f*cking remembered her as soon as she said her name.
I'm still not over it...
"I didn't believe him until..."
My friend told me he was banging the new driver's ed teacher.
I didn't believe him until she was arrested.
"I thought they were both trolling me..."
Two of my friends shared a story about the times that both got drunk, and joined the Communist Party of Wales, and Communist Party of Croatia respectively.
I thought they were both trolling me until they showed me the proof. I both want to, and never want to go out drinking with them again.
"He's a tattooed metal head..."
He's a tattooed metal head who claimed that he grew up on a hippie commune in Northern Cali with Timothy Leary and Winona Rider.
I called BS.
One day at work I was called to the floor. Thought it was a potential interviewee but it was just Winona who called me out for calling BS on Mike.
It was one of the most embarrassing and amazing moments of my life.
"Met her parents later..."
GiphyMy friend in high school said she was on a Smashing Pumpkins album cover when she was little. I didn't believe her, but she was a dead ringer for the girl on the left, wearing wings, on the cover of Siamese Dream, so I figured she just said that to be cool/because things were infinitely harder to prove/disprove before we had google.
Met her parents later, they confirmed it.
"I worked with a guy..."
I worked with a guy who had insane stories about his super hot boyfriend, his rich uncle who lived in Texas, and his frequent trips to go see his favorite football team. I always kinda indulged the guy, I figured we worked at a sh!tty chain grocery store cashiering and he had nothing better to do at work than fantasize about a better life UNTIL he came in off shift with said super hot boyfriend and showed me selfies they took from the pro football game they'd gone to a week earlier. Dude was really living his best life
"A man I met..."
A man I met told me he works "with rockets". Thought he was just lying and trying to impress/catfish me.
Turns out, he's an aerospace engineer at NASA and is now my fiance.
"I was working at Starbucks..."
I was working at Starbucks in Los Angeles and was in the back room doing dishes. It was about 15 minutes before close. My friend and co-worker pokes her head around the corner and says, "Can you come ring up Han Solo, I closed my register already." I didn't know what she meant until I walk out front and see Harrison Ford standing in front of my register. I was a huge Star Wars nerd at the time.
"I was a missionary in Venezuela..."
I was a missionary in Venezuela for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. As a missionary we didn't watch television, listen to the radio, browse the internet or even have cell phones, etc. Basically we lived in a media blackout for two years with the exception of weekly letters home.
Our first appointment of the morning was with a gentleman who we nice but liked to tell jokes that always kind of fell flat. When he opened the door he old us that our country was under attack - that planes were flying around blowing up buildings, etc.
We told him this wasn't a particularly funny joke so he pulled us inside and turned on the television.
That was the morning of September 11, 2001
"I don't know why I found it so hard to believe..."
My best friend lived in LA briefly and got a gig working security at Michael Jackson's birthday party.
I don't know why I found it so hard to believe, it was just some extra cash escorting celebrities through entrances and shit.
"A good friend of mine..."
A good friend of mine was a flight instructor at a couple local airports. Very solid pilot and instructor, I'd flown with him and his students sometimes, and knew him well enough to trust that he truly knew his shit. Then one day, he finally got his shot at the big time… co-pilot for a regional carrier that promised him he'd make Captain within a year. Everything seemed great, and I could not have been more happy for him.
Then just a few months later, he's back in town, unemployed, going on and on about how wrong they are doing things, how dangerous that airline is run, how they're falsifying logs left and right, he was filing reports with the FAA, etc. and so forth. He was my closest friend and I took him at his word, but that was not easy; it seemed for all the world as if he had washed out and come home blaming everyone but himself. The things he was saying, if even half true, would be national news.
Then a few weeks later that regional carrier dropped a plane on a neighborhood in the middle of the night, and the ensuing investigation brought to light every single thing he had been saying. He's one of the main interview subjects in the PBS Frontline episode about the tragedy.
"I had a roommate..."
I had a roommate who is sometimes astute, and sometime talks out of his ass. A real-life troll. He'll play devil's advocate without announcing he's doing so, just to hear the different arguments on things, but he makes it sound like he's seriously signed on to whatever platform he's advancing.
He came home one day talking about how he'd attended a Trump rally to see what it was all about and said that Trump was going to get the nomination and probably be elected the next president.
"Back when I was a young guitarist..."
Back when I was a young guitarist, met a friend of a friend who was supposedly the one of the guitarists for Julian Lennon and played on his first two albums. I've met people before who blew smoke up my ass about who they played with and yadda yadda, but later on I caught one of Julian's videos (back when MTV actually used to show them) and lo and behold, there he was prancing around onstage.
"My friend told me she had stopped a kidnapping."
My friend told me she stopped a kidnapping. Basically she rammed her car into a windowless van where a girl was fighting off some guys trying to put her in. The girl got in her car and they called the police. I didn't believe it even when she showed me her car (she is a bad driver so its no big thing when she has a dent on her car). I had to see it on the news to actually believe it.
When American tourists travel abroad, they often find themselves startled if not downright perplexed by several international cuisines.
If haggis doesn't sound disgusting enough, they find themselves even more shocked by how awful it tastes.
What these very same tourists might not take into account, is that visitors from abroad are often equally baffled by several iconic American dishes.
And no, we're not just talking about the gargantuan portions.
Redditor Seraphicly329 was curious to hear all the American cuisines foreigners can't quite wrap their minds, let alone their tongues, around, leading them to ask:
"Non-Americans what American foods do you find unusual or odd?"
Can they Not Taste How The Root Beer Compliments The Ice Cream?
"Used to host a lot of non-American when they came here from Europe or Asia."
"Root beer floats baffles them every time!"
"Tastes just like their toothpaste and can’t understand how we enjoy it."- WhiskeyTangoFoxy
Say CHEESE!
"My friend from the Mediterranean said 'You Americans put cheese on everything'."
"'Cheese on eggs, cheese on meat, cheese on pasta, cheese on salad, cheese on BREAD, on FISH!!'"
"And you know, she's right."
"Love me a tuna melt."- WildAsTheyCome
Sweet And Salty
"I moved to the states years ago and the first time I saw chicken and waffles I was confused by this combo."-SmittenKitten0303
Chicken And Waffles Syrup GIF by F*CK, THAT'S DELICIOUSGiphyWhat Is So Offensive?!?!
"I had a Swedish friend who told me he wasn’t even willing to try mac and cheese because it sounded gross lol."- offbrandbarbie
"Kraft boxed Mac and cheese."
"I don't understand how something so processed can taste like the color yellow and yet be enjoyable but here we are."- RagePandazXD
An Aquired Taste, For Sure...
"I had a Portuguese boss once, and our team would often go out for lunch."
"Me, being a bit of a foodie/adventurous, would often recommend lunch spots."
"I decided for a change we should go to this restaurant that served nothing but PB&J sandwiches, with various twists like the Elvis - a warm sandwich with bananas and bacon slices, etc."
"He later recounted it as "'he worst lunch [he] had ever had", and thought I did it out of revenge'."- spaetzelspiff
Kevin Smith Celebs GIF by DiggGiphyFIrst Impressions Can Be Dangerous...
"Thought smashburgers would make the burger dry and juices ooze out."
"I had one from Shake Shack when I was in NYC."
"It was delicious and crispy and not dry at all."
"A bit salty but oh well."- teems
Most Cakes Don't Have A Shelf Life...
"Twinkies."- vali241
"Those are gross to most Americans over 15 years old too."
"Honestly, most snacky cakes."
"Maybe twice a year I'll get a wild craving for a Star Crunch or a Swiss Roll, but then I'll have one and remember why I rarely buy them."- Not_a_werecat
Carbs And Fat...
"If you've never eaten biscuits and gravy, you're missing out."
"If you've had it and say you don't like it, you've either eaten it at a bad restaurant or you have no soul."- Mother_Wash
GiphyOscar Wilde Was The One Who Said "Sugar Is No Longer Fashionable..."
"Unsweetened iced tea."
"Love it."- Quinocco
So Much For Southern Hospitality...
"Things my South African/British wife found weird."
"Scrapple, chicken and waffles, biscuits, sausage gravy, chicken fried steak, okra, Brunswick Stew, real BBQ (as opposed to grilling), grits, pickled pig feet, pork brains, Boudin sausage, pecan pie, Key Lime pie, boiled peanuts."
"If I think about it, a lot of Southern/Soul food."
"She was also unfamiliar with Mexican and TexMex other than those horrid Old El Paso hard shell taco kits."- Shuggy539
A Cute Alternative Word For "Scraps"...
"Many people are repulsed by scrapple."
"I have been enjoying it all my life, but I don't try to push it on anybody."- Warren_Puffitt
hungry pork GIF by Chipotle Mexican GrillGiphyIf You Know The Origins...
"I taught history for years and now I am a chef."
"So food history is a professional area, and a personal passion."
"I have also lived in my 40 years in three country's and 6 states, and I have been to 45 out of 50 states."
"Peanut Butter was invented for medical use and an easy way to get vitamins and nutrients into patients."
"Peanut butter and jelly became popular during world War 2 due to food rationing."
"Most Americans grow up on it, so for many of us its traditional."
"Chicken and waffles is from a subset of American Cuisine, Southern Cuisine."
"Most people outside the South dont get it either."
"Also, if the balance of the savory chicken and sweet waffle/syrup is off, it really is terrible, but if you get it right, it's delicious!"
"Most people outside the South have no idea how to cook grits, or even what they are."
"Many people in the South don't do it right either."
"Gravy in America is NOT the same as in the rest of the world."
"The gravy traditionally used in biscuits and gravy is even more different, and easy to screw up also."
"Southern Biscuits go best with this gravy, and Northern Biscuits and definitely SCONES are not the same as these Biscuits (the South uses a softer wheat to make flour)."
"Many American don't get spray cheese either."
"Combining savory and sweet is not just an American thing, but we do combine them a lot."
"Keep in mind we ARE a melting pot of cultures and different cultures can combine in odd ways, especially in food."
"As an American chef I always tell people to lay off a lot of canned or packaged items in stores because of the amount of salt and preservatives, and even sugars in them."
"I even mix and sell my own seasonings to my local community to help people with this."
"If your in a restaurant and find the food too salty, chances are part or all of it was prepackaged and not fresh."- zeljadis
Fast Food GIF by US National ArchivesGiphyAt the end of the day, one's taste in food is personal, and everyone reserves the right to like and dislike whatever they want.
Even so: WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND DOESN'T LIKE MAC AND CHEESE?!?!?!
