Editing Tall tale (section)

{{Short description|Unbelievable story}}
{{Other uses|Tall Tales (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
A '''tall tale''' is a story with unbelievable elements, related as if it were true and factual. Some tall tales are [[exaggeration]]s of actual events, for example [[wikt:fish story|fish stories]] ("the fish that got away") such as, "That fish was so big, why I tell ya', it nearly sank the boat when I pulled it in!" Other tall tales are completely fictional tales set in a familiar setting, such as the [[Europe]]an [[countryside]], the [[American frontier]], the [[Frontier|Canadian Northwest]], the [[Outback|Australian outback]], or the beginning of the [[Industrial Revolution]].

Events are often told in a way that makes the narrator seem to have been a part of the story; the tone is generally good-natured. [[Legend]]s are differentiated from tall tales primarily by age; many legends exaggerate the exploits of their heroes, but in tall tales the exaggeration looms large, to the extent of dominating the story.