Ohire wo Tsukeru (尾ひれをつける - Embellishing a Story)

Some people embellish a story using something that's not true.

Such an act is called "ohire wo tsukeru" (尾ひれを付ける) in Japan.

The "ohire" means a tail and a fin of fish, and the "tsukeru" means to attach, so the literal meaning of it is "attaching a tail and a fin."

If you add a tail and a fin to fish, its look will be flashy.

However, since the number of tails and fins of fish is determined, of course such fish doesn't exist.

Because of this, people have come to say "ohire wo tsukeru" to mean to embellish/exaggerate a story by adding lie information.

尾ひれを付ける

何かを話すとき、事実でないことを交えて大げさに言う人がいます。

このような行動を、日本語で「尾ひれを付ける」と言います。

「尾ひれ」は魚の「尾」と「ひれ」を意味します。

魚に尾ひれを付け加えると、派手な見た目になります。

しかし、魚の尾ひれの数は決まっているので、そのような魚は実在しません。

このことから、事実でない情報を付け加えて話を大げさにすることを、「（話に）尾ひれを付ける」と言うようになりました。

• If you add a tail and a fin to fish, its look will be flashy.
• If you add a tail and a fin to a fish, its look will be flashier.

• However, since the number of tails and fins of fish is determined, of course such fish doesn't exist.
• However, since the number of tails and fins a fish has is determined, of course such fish don't exist.

• Because of this, people have come to say "ohire wo tsukeru" to mean to embellish/exaggerate a story by adding lie information.
• Because of this, people have come to interpret "ohire wo tsukeru" as to embellish or exaggerate a story by adding false details to it.