r/AskReddit 1d ago

What’s a skill almost everyone thinks they’re good at until they meet someone who’s actually great at it?

10.3k Upvotes

5.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

3.0k

u/MisterMrErik 23h ago

My father just told me the tale of the lord of the string. It started with a short man man named Bill Bo who had a magic string that would turn him invisible if he wrapped it around his finger.

Imagine my surprise when I learned that Tolkien stole my dad’s story and made it about Bilbo and his magic ring.

774

u/saltfish 22h ago

You just make up stories about the challenges and happy times that your children have. You make up names and fake scenarios that appreciate kindness and explain how challenges make people better.

My suggestion, makes them up silently in your head when you're going to sleep. Practice it in your thoughts for a while. It'll help you sleep and make you a better story teller.

Also, never let the truth get in the way of a good story.

77

u/smeldorf 18h ago

My dad would always make up stories or tell us stories that are somewhat based on reality (like how he met my mom). He’d also add in his own stuff to our bedtime storybooks. For example, there was an old Christmas book about a Christmas tree that grew so large they had to cut holes through the apartment floors. My dads version was that they all peed on it and that’s why it grew so tall lol

3

u/Nyoteng 13h ago

This is so Big Fish coded, I love it.

12

u/_HiWay 17h ago

If i only had memories of my kids when they were little, they are only 13 now but i was so much in survival mode i hardly have memory of what should have been some of the best years of my life

11

u/Pingus_the_almighty 17h ago

They are still 13, get out there and make some awesome memories! Listen to what they want to do and make magic happen ❤️

11

u/WineEm 18h ago

This is so sweet 😭

2

u/STRYKER3008 14h ago

Dang I used to do that with video games. Like imagine I'm a historian recoutning events in the game, even trying to do it as a secondary source (as in if we interviewed the main protag), or if I was like a drill sergeant explaining sci fi weapons or tech to recruits.

Need to start doing that again. Got really good sleep doing that in bed haha

1

u/saltfish 13h ago

It's great practice for all areas of life.

2

u/blameitonmygoose 8h ago

I just saved your comment haha. I try to do this in general, but seeing words to the method and reminders of the good characteristics is really worth remembering. Thanks!

70

u/kkeut 20h ago

bad news man.... hate to to be the one to tell you this, but Tolkien was your dad

4

u/chux4w 11h ago

JRR Jr.

1

u/Digging_Graves 5h ago

More like fantastic news!

16

u/Curious_Knowbody 19h ago

In a similar vein, I would sing my kids song before they went to sleep. Classic rock songs I would turn into lullabies.

My kids were amazed when a song came on radio, dad it’s your song. “ I wish son”

2

u/ExcitedCoconut 15h ago

Hahaha my son has never credited me like that but he does often has this confused look on his face when a song comes on in the car or wherever, and it’s the proper version of one of the dozens of rock/grunge songs I ‘lullabied’ to him sleep to. 

‘Hey I know this song, wait no I don’t, wait I think I do, but it’s DIFFERENT. Dad, DO I KNOW THIS SONG?!’

2

u/RunawayHobbit 15h ago

Hush, little baby, don’t say a word…and never mind that noise you heard!

40

u/roodypoo29 22h ago

I never knew Tolkien was such a dick.

8

u/yeahright17 17h ago

I tell my kids stories from all their favorite Disney princess movies with different character names. Been doing it for over a year and they've yet to catch on. 4 and 6 now.

6

u/OnyxPhoenix 20h ago

My Dad used to tell us a new made up story every night about Joey the zookeeper.

For some reason i always thought Joey was the monkey off the coco pops cereal box. Turns out he was just a regular guy.

6

u/DoctorDrangle 19h ago

Amazon should have hired your dad to write Rings of Power, then maybe that show wouldn't suck so much ass

6

u/LumpkinsPotatoCat 20h ago

I was also very angry for my dad when I finally got old enough to watch Pulp Fiction and realized that Quentin Tarantino stole his tomato joke.

3

u/winebiddle 17h ago

my dad just told us a little story about a man named Jed - poor mountaineer barely kept his family fed.

3

u/Cant-Fix-Stupid 16h ago

My dad told me a story about the Japanese-American Yaki family. Mr. Yaki’s daughter Teri did not like the taste of soy sauce, so Mr. Yaki set out to invent a new sauce, which he named after his beloved daughter. And that’s how we got teriyaki sauce. 🤣🤣

3

u/denise4055 16h ago

My aunt did that! She is an avid Stephen King fan but changed the stories to have happy endings. IMAGINE MY SURPRISE when Cujo was actually not great, or that the mist didn’t suddenly go away.

2

u/effa94 12h ago

ironic, since tolkien telling stories to his children at bedtime was how he came up with the hobbit

1

u/Lanster27 19h ago

Well you gotta start somewhere.

1

u/STRYKER3008 14h ago

That hack haha

1

u/theequallyunique 13h ago

When I was in elementary school, we had to write a story in an exam. I've written on it for the whole lesson and got extra time throughout the break. Thought myself a genius for what I wrote.

Turns out, I just copied LoTR (specifically the segment of gollum leading frodo and Sam through the mountains of mordor). And I had no idea that I did so! Probably I was half asleep when my parents watched the movie on TV, maybe just joined for half an hour before bed time.

1

u/RedOctobyr 10h ago

That Tolkien guy was a real jerk. #JusticeForMisterMrErik'sDad!