There are some people so addicted to exaggeration that they can’t tell the truth without lying.

Habit outlasts intention. Somebody who has spent years rounding numbers up and sharpening stories eventually cannot report a plain event plainly, not because they mean to deceive but because the embellishment has become how they speak. The distortion runs ahead of any decision to distort.

That is worth checking in yourself before you go looking for it in others. Notice whether your account of yesterday gets a little better each time you tell it, and try telling one story flat, with the dull parts left in. The flat version usually lands harder than you expect, and it costs nothing to be believed.