More On Hyperbole

Remember as kids how we might argue by saying things like "that happened a million times" or "no way in the world".......The more extreme our expression, the more convincing we were trying to be, or hoped we were, in any case. With my writing students, I try to steer them away from extreme or overly broad statements, since such statements usually cannot be backed up. Just one exception to such a general statement takes the air out of it. To be clear is to be precise, to express in degrees. But, sometimes that extreme statement is just what is called for, especially if all you care about is overwhelming the other person into submission ("is, isn't, is, isn't-infinity!")