fish story

English

Etymology

From the generally held belief that fishermen tend to exaggerate the size of their catch. Unrelated to the figurative sense of fishy.

Noun

fish story (plural fish stories)

1. An exaggerated or boastful story.

   Synonyms: fish tale, tall tale

Translations

exaggerated or boastful story

• Finnish: kalavale (fi), kalajuttu (fi)
• German: Seemannsgarn (de)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: fiskeskrøne m or f

• Portuguese: história de pescador (pt) f

See also

• cock-and-bull story
• shaggy-dog story
• traveller's tale
• whopper