Dear Prudence,
My husband is a great storyteller and can recount the most ordinary day in a way that’s compelling and hilarious. He’s a bit of an exaggerator, but I’ve always felt his stretches don’t do any harm. But for about the past year, I’ve noticed that he’ll often share some information in a way that’s really dramatic and dire, only to backtrack once he’s gotten a reaction. For example, he recently told me and our family that he was probably going to need knee surgery soon. After some questions, it came out that his doctor had told him to go to physical therapy and do more strength training, and said, “This is the kind of thing that leads to a knee replacement in your 70s if you don’t attend to it now.” Earlier this week, he interrupted me at work to tell me a close friend had been diagnosed with cancer—again, after questions, it turned out the friend had a suspicious mole that was going to be biopsied. These conversations leave me feeling panicked and scared, and we’re at an age where I feel like they’re going to be more and more common. But he doesn’t see the harm in it—from his perspective, the doctor did say the words “knee replacement” so his telling was accurate. Do I just need to tune him out?
—Stretching the Truth Too Far