Hyperbole: A Million Ways to Improve Your English! 😲

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Did you hear what I just did?

I exaggerated. I said I have a gazillion videos, and I've been on YouTube forever.

Well, forever is a long time, and I certainly wasn't on YouTube as a little girl or as a teenager.

That was a bit of an exaggeration. I was stretching the truth.

Also, "gazillion" is an informal word that means "a lot."

"Gazillion" sounds like a "million," and I certainly don't have that many videos!

We use words like "gazillion" to make an impression. Hyperbole is a colorful way of speaking or writing.

Hyperbole is the use of exaggeration for emphasis.

Our exaggeration isn't meant to be taken seriously.

It's not going to take a hundred years to watch all my videos on YouTube,

but if I want to suggest it will take a long time,

I can use hyperbole and say things like: It will take a hundred years. It will take ages.

It will take forever.

It will take eons.

Let me offer you some practice with hyperbole -- the kind you're likely to hear in conversation.

I'll share a statement, and you identify the exaggeration. Okay?

Pauline has a million pairs of shoes in her closet. I think she buys a new pair every month. if not every week.

This is an exaggeration about...

amount. I'm exaggerating the number of shoes that Pauline owns.

We use "a million" to mean a lot. A million what? A million pairs of shoes.

A million things. A million times.

We also exaggerate with "a thousand" and "a hundred."

They're always flying somewhere. They've been to Europe a thousand times.

I feel like I'm carrying around a hundred books in my backpack.

For the umpteenth time, please clean up this mess!

This is an exaggeration about...

the number of times. When I say I'm doing something for the umpteenth time,

I'm emphasizing the number of times, for example, the number of times

I've had to make this request -- the 15th, the 16th, the 17th --

too many times to count.

We also use these following expressions before a statement of opinion.

If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times --

honesty is the best policy.

If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times -- cheating isn't the answer.

Joe complained that he had tons of homework this weekend.

This is an exaggeration about...

volume. Joe was complaining about the amount or volume of work he had to do.

"Ton" is a word we use a lot in exaggeration.

We can use the singular count noun "a ton" to refer to heavy weight.

For example, my suitcase weighs a ton. I hope I don't have to pay an extra fee at the airport.

My grandmother always carried a big heavy purse. This is true. I could say her purse weighed a ton.

I could also say she always had tons of little things in her purse.

There's a third option.

I could use a colorful expression, an idiom, and say that my grandmother had everything but the kitchen sink in her purse.

"Everything but the kitchen sink" refers to lots of different stuff.

It's an idiom and it has exaggeration, so idioms and hyperbole can overlap sometimes.

You have to come to the party. Everyone is going to be there.

This is an exaggeration about...

the number of people.

Sometimes we emphasize

"everyone" to mean a lot of people.

Certainly, not everyone in the world is going to be at a party, but we can make it sound that way.

You'll hear statements like, "Everyone is talking about the party. Were you there?"

"Everyone who's anyone is going to the party. You can't miss it!"

We use "everyone who's anyone" to refer to all people of importance.

Hyperbole allows us to make comparisons. These are colorful comparisons, but not very accurate ones.

Consider these idiomatic expressions with the word "like."

His girlfriend's decision to break up with him hit him like a ton of bricks.

This is an exaggeration about...

surprise.

We're emphasizing the man's feeling of surprise. He was completely shocked.

A ton of bricks would likely kill somebody, so this idiom has hyperbole.

What a mess! It looks like a tornado came through here.

This is an exaggeration about...

tidiness. Tornadoes can actually cause total destruction, so this idiom definitely stretches the truth.

Colorful comparisons can also be made with the word "as." Listen.

I worry about Erin. She's as thin as a rail. She looks unhealthy.

This is an exaggeration about...

weight.

I could say "as thin as a rail" or "as thin as a toothpick." You may hear both, and both are exaggerations.

My Uncle Bill is six feet tall and tough as nails. He was in the army for 15 years.

This is an exaggeration about...

his strength. Certainly, nobody is as strong as metal like nails.

Goodness! There's enough food here to feed an army.

This is an exaggeration about...

the amount.

The army has a lot of soldiers, a lot of mouths to feed,

so when I say "enough to feed an army," I'm referring to a lot of food --

probably not enough to feed a hundred, but a lot.

Leah's smile was a mile wide. You should have seen her face when she opened her birthday present.

This is an exaggeration about...

the size, the size of her smile.

We talk about a smile being a mile wide when it's really big and it reflects genuine happiness.

To exaggerate, you can use set expressions or use your own wording with "so" or "so..that."

Her apartment is so small. It's like a shoebox.

I'm so tired that I could probably sleep standing up.

I filled out so many of these forms (that) I could probably do them in my sleep.

Sometimes our strong emotions make us talk about death or dying when we really just want to emphasize that were

tired, anxious, or worried.

Consider these examples.

I just about died! I was so embarrassed.

I nearly died! I couldn't believe it.

I'll die if I don't get tickets to that concert!

I'm dying to meet him. I've waited my whole life for this.

I'm dead tired. I can't move a muscle.

When I sleep on weekends, I'm dead to the world. An earthquake couldn't wake me.

Similarly, we exaggerate with the verb "kill."

What emotion am I feeling when I say something like,

"I was ready to kill somebody if I had to wait another half hour."

That's easy. Right? Anger. I'm emphasizing and exaggerating how angry I was.

You may also hear things like this.

A sister to a little brother: I'll kill you if you break my new sunglasses!

A worried teenager: My parents will kill me if I come home late. Or they're going to kill me if I come home late again.

A related expression people can say when they know they're in trouble is "I'm dead. I am so dead."

Now here's a different use of the verb "kill." Listen. I'd kill to have tickets to the championship game.

This is an exaggeration about...

desire.

If you'd kill to do something or you'd kill to have something, you desperately want it.

Finally, "ever" and "never" can be used in exaggeration, as in, "Oh my gosh! You're the best ever."

This has been the worst day ever. I can't wait for it to end.

This flight is never going to end. I just want off this plane.

Remember that we can use superlative forms with or without "ever."

This is the best ice cream in the world. This is the best ever!

Listen out for hyperbole and experiment a little. We'll end with a short exercise in exaggeration.

When people are hungry, they may say, "I'm starving. I'm so hungry I could eat a horse."

Can you come up with your own exaggeration?

Someone might complain, "The neighbors upstairs are so noisy. They walk around like a herd of elephants."

Can you come up with your own exaggeration?

Well, that's all for now.

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