Why can't we all just settle with truth? Lies will always get out of hand and often get us into a world of trouble. Often a lie will start simple and small and then get to a place where we're not even sure what the origin of the tale was. Too often we think we're smarter than we are and we can handle, nine times out of ten.... we'd be wrong.
Redditor u/19you1 wanted to know who has let things spiral because they were a little afraid of the simple truth by asking.... What's a lie you've told that has gotten ridiculously out of hand?
Hey Owen.
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Work with a women for the past four years, every day says hi Owen and asks about my day, it's not my name or even close to my name and I just never corrected her and now its too late. Saveyso
Romeo oh Romeo!
Not me but my cousin. Aged 13 she created a fictional boyfriend but being a teenager with social media it wasn't as easy as just saying he existed.
What followed was 8 months of a Romeo & Juliet style romance with disapproving parents, fake accounts and bad photoshop. This ultimately ended in a dramatic turn of events when Luke the imaginary boyfriend tragically passed away of an undisclosed condition, never to be spoken of again.
She came clean after receiving a sympathy card from her friend's parents. Pabs23
The Old Lady Knows.
I smoked in high school. And for 15 years after that. We used to walk down to the shop which was around 500m from school and sit outside and smoke because the shop keeper didn't mind. So I'm down there one day and nothing unusual happens and then that afternoon I walk from school to my great grandmother's place who lived about another k or so from the school in the other direction. She was old, frail and the most amazing person ever.
Anyway she had gone past the shops in a taxi that day and saw me smoking. She brought it up about having smokes in my pocket (I did) and I said no she was mistaken etc.
A few weeks later my mum says grandma Nanny saw you smoking and you lied to her. I said she did say that but it wasn't true, she must have seen someone else. One thing lead to another and before I know it the family has decided grandma has lost her marbles and within a month the house was cleaned out and she was moved into a home.
Fast forward a couple of years and she has genuinely lost her memory, dementia is a horrible person. I never got a chance to tell her the truth because by the time I had grown up and decided she was mostly gone. I think about it regularly. Coffee_Pee_Cackle
Blame Canada.
That I was American. I didn't out right say it but when I first came i was hanging out with people, and I didn't feel like it was necessary to mention that I came from Canada. It lead to me not knowing some American culture and making me look dumb half the time cause I didn't know someone/some reference. jojothedirteater
For the Weekend.
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Told my boss I'm Jewish so I can have weekends off. I now eat kosher at work, and can't order take out.
Edit: Thanks for the silver! This is my first one. no-name-life
Dedicated to the Story.
A friend in middle school pretended to be color blind. Carried the lie clean through high school. Pretty impressive dedication really. CircadianSomersault
Hey back in Middle School I did a white lie once that I was color blind to make up for some color mistake and be "different." I ended up using that line again and again to family and stuff. Friends and family started saying "you're color blind, you wouldn't know" when I would state my opinion on colors which got annoying. But actually turned out my senior year of high school I actually am color blind. The one with reds and green or whatever. I guess fake it till you make it right? miniibeast
Dearly Departed.
Not me, but I had a classmate in high school tell a teacher his mom texted him that his dad died, just to get out of a test. Boy did that blow up in his face. ConfusedDishwasher
Yee Haw!
Not me, but a server buddy of mine told me a story once about how he took the first table of the night in a super thick Southern accent (he was in theatre, so it was actually really convincing). The only problem is the people at the next table over heard him, and he had to serve them next. Long story short, this kept up and he had to talk to every single table over an 8 hour shift in a Southern accent. Johobus28
All the Randos.
When I met my college friends at 17, I told them that my first kiss was at 15 in order to hide my embarrassment at never having kissed anyone. One time they asked for the story, so I quickly made up something about a random guy I used to work with who I made out with at a party. Although this wasn't my intent, I guess something about the way I told the story made my friends (who to be fair were pretty sheltered people at the time) think I was fairly promiscuous.
From this, they gathered that I spent my time during the summers frequently hooking up with strangers. I ended becoming close friends with these girls, but unfortunately due to this they all thought of me as the 'promiscuous one' of our group for a couple years until they finally realized they'd only seen me date a handful of people. ceruleanavocado
The Ad Libber.....
Someone else said they were related to me as a joke around 2004 and unbeknownst to me continued to say that...
so for years I've had people ask me about my "brother" Josh even though I actually haven't seen him in very long time.
I usually just ad lib a general response rather than making him feel silly but I'm pretty over it. ukiyozen
The old wives' tales.
They are the stories of legend.
I think we all need a big DEEP Google dive though.
Where did they originate?
WHO ARE THE OLD WIVES!
You don't hear about them as much anymore.
It's like science and logic are suddenly a thing.
But they sure are a good way to keep your kids and their behavior in line.
Redditor the_spring_goddess wanted to discuss the tall tales we've all been fed through life, so they asked:
"What is an old wives tale that people still believe?"
"Wait an hour to swim after eating."
What a crock!
So many summer hours wasted.
I want revenge for that one.
Say Nothing
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"An undercover cop has to tell you he's a cop if you ask him."
LonelyMail5115
"Pretty much most advice when it comes to cops are old wives tales. I’m not even a cop but most of the advice you hear is pretty off."
I_AM_AN_A**HOLE_AMA
Say Something
"That you have to wait 24 hours to report someone missing."
Severe_Airport1426
"I really think this one is important and should be the top regardless. As it’s a piece of advice that needs to be relearned and the only way to do that is through awareness."
crappycurtains
"This used to be true. I think they changed it after some guy named Brandon went missing back in the '80s or '70s. You used to have to wait 24 hours if the missing person was an adult because they had 'a right to be missing' and then everyone realized that was stupid and stopped doing it."
AlbinoShavedGorilla
Body Temps
"That drinking ice cold water after eating oily foods will solidify the oil and permanently remain in your body. I informed my coworker that if your body temperature ever reached that point, you’d have bigger problems than weight gain."
chriseo22
"Oh, I have a cousin who 100% believed this. One of those guys who believed every early 2000s internet rumor and old wives tale. One night I chugged a big glass of ice water after dinner and he started freaking out and saying my guts were gonna harden."
"I sarcastically told him to drive me to the hospital if that happened. Obviously, nothing happened and the next morning I said something like 'Thanks for being on standby in case my guts filled with hardened oil.' He just walked off muttering under his breath."
apocalypticradish
Arms Down
"When I was pregnant, I was told by young and old alike that I should NOT raise my arms above my head or exert myself in such a manner because it could cause cord strangulation to my unborn sons and daughters."
Fatmouse84
10 Years Actually
Unimpressed Uh Huh GIF by Brooklyn Nine-Nine
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"Chewing gum stays in your stomach for 7 years."
"I remember accidentally swallowing a piece of gum when I was a kid in like 1995 and just accepting my fate like welp, gonna have this in my stomach til high school I guess."
Gecko-911
I was so afraid to sallow my gum when I was young.
This tale is haunting.
High/Low
Hungry Debra Messing GIF by Will & Grace
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"You can tell the sex of the baby by how you carry."
LeastFormal9366
"Pregnancy certainly wins awards for the most old wives tales. So much absolute BS was repeated to us by everyone we talked to."
IllIIIlIllIlIIlIllI
The Cursed
"If you’re a woman and you wear opal jewelry but opal is not your birthstone (October), you’ll never be able to have children, or will be widowed, or just generally have bad luck or something. You can counteract this by having a diamond in the same piece of jewelry as the opal, though."
"I have a nice opal ring that my parents gave me years ago, and I’ve had other women give me this 'advice' unprompted more than once when I’ve worn it. I have absolutely no idea where it started, but I’m pretty sure this little chunk of silicate rock has no concept of what month I was born in, let alone of how my reproductive organs work."
SmoreOfBabylon
Stay In
"Going outside with wet hair will make you get pneumonia. Or an earache. Or maybe arthritis. Depends on which old wife you listen to."
"Jokes on them - I haven't blow-dried my hair in decades and usually leave the house with wet hair in the morning. On winter mornings, the tips of my hair get frozen. No ear infections or pneumonia or arthritis yet."
worldbound0514
Dreams and Facts
"You never make anyone up in your dreams you've seen everyone in your dreams somewhere else before and never make anyone up entirely."
"How would you possibly prove that to be true? My partner adamantly believes this and tells me this 'fact' whenever I have a dream about someone I've never met before."
mattshonestreddit
"My late wife used to tell me that before she met me she would have dreams of standing at an alter on her wedding day but could never see the guy's face, no matter how hard she tried. After meeting me the face was filled in with mine. Don't know if it's true but one of those things I like thinking of every now and then when I miss her."
Darthdemented
Cracked
Getting Ready Episode 2 GIF by The Office
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"Some people still believe cracking knuckles causes arthritis."
Choice-Grapefruit-44
"There's a doctor (Donald Unger) that cracked his knuckles a couple of times a day for 60 years, but only on one hand, just to prove it. Both hands remained exactly the same."
MacyTmcterry
I love my knuckles.
Do you have any tall tales to add to the list? Let us know in the comments below.
