If people are telling you stories how do you differentiate between Tall Stories and Bullshit?

[Hardrada]

[arcadian]

1. On whether or not the person does a lot of drugs or drinks a lot.

Or are intoxicated at the time. Then if they have a reputation for telling bullshit story, that's a dead ringer. Third, if they just start telling me a story from out of nowhere and I don't know them and I didn't solicit them, then that's a good indicator. I also demand photo documentation and various other forms of citation for proof.

[Hardrada]

2. Yes, photo documentation! That's an idea.

I have one friend who is always telling anecdotes about people he knows and with a straight face and totally sober (usually) and all of a sudden people are saying "O that's just a story!" And I missed when he switched into BS!

[petronius]

3. If it amuses me, it's a tall tale, if it pisses me off it's bullshit

More specifically, a tall tale is meant to entertain and/or to elucidate a point, whereas bullshit is told out of laziness, self-aggrandizement, or maliciousness. IMO, anyway...

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. I was gonna say the eaxact same thing

[Hardrada]

9. That sounds about right!

[datasuspect]

4. bullshit will sing to you

a true con artist can you cheat you fair.

[rug]

6. Jake: You lied to me!

Elwood: It wasn't lies, it was ... bullshit.

[Hardrada]

10. Great Scene!

[Ikonoklast]

7. Every time someone starts his yarn with

"You're not going to believe this, but...".

He's usually right. I don't believe it.

[Hardrada]

8. LOL!

[RandomThoughts]

11. I would guess

If it is meant to entertain or fill time it may be a tall story.

If it is trying to get you to invest in, or change your views on the person speaking, then it may be BS.

[Hardrada]

12. Invest in. Yeah, that would be mostly BS too.

[BarenakedLady]

13. I've got a pretty good bullshit detector

Most of the time.

[Hardrada]

14. A most useful attribute. I have to do some work on mine.

[Fire Walk With Me]

15. There is SO much bullshit that I just smile and nod a lot

and let it pass by like clouds in the sky.

[OmahaBlueDog]

16. Good storytellers never let the truth get in the way of a good story

..so my first question would be what is the story about. If the story is about my buddy's wild weekend with three exotic dancers, I just smile and listen.

If the story is about how Jesus opposed government intervention into the banking system, I start skimming my New Testament for the pertinent sections.

[Hardrada]

17. Good point about storytellers and the truth. Tall Tales & BS made America what it is