<s>[INST] When someone is exaggerating, why are they called "A fisherman"? [/INST] You seem to be alluding to the urban concept of “exaggerlying” or the idiom a “fish story”.  The reason exaggeration and fishing are sometimes associated is because sometimes fishermen might use hyperbole to describe the size of a catch rather than a literal measurement.</s>\ <s>[INST] Where did this idiom come from? [/INST] According to grammarist.com, the idiom "fish" story is an American term that came into use in the early 1800s, based on the tendency for a fisherman to exaggerate the size of the fish that he caught, or the fish that he almost caught.</s>