Hyperbole can be effective sometimes
Exaggeration is effective in situations where you are expressing opinions and feelings
We are usually taught that we should not exaggerate, and speak of only what is true in measured, carefully selected words. This is certainly the right policy when it comes to facts. If what you say seems to offer misleading facts because of your exaggeration, then you are definitely doing it wrong. For instan, if the school play that you performed in, was a moderate success, but you describe it, years later, to your college friends as the ‘biggest hit' that people talked about for a long time, you are most likely taking a few liberties with the truth.
But there are some situations where exaggerating a little is often necessary. Consider this example: A friend of yours is really fond of telling jokes, but unfortunately repeats them a lot. When this friend starts telling a joke that you have heard many times, you could either say ‘You've told us this joke many times already.' or ‘You've told this joke like a million times already.' The difference between the two expressions is measurable not in terms of which one is truer, but which one is more effective. Saying ‘a million' instead of the plain ‘many times' allows you to convey emphatically that: a) you have heard this joke and don't want to hear it again and b) your friend's habit of repeating jokes is slightly annoying. This type of exaggeration is effective in situations where you are expressing opinions and feelings. Let's take a few examples: If you watch a good comedy, something that is very funny and makes you laugh a lot, you could describe the experience by saying ‘I nearly died laughing.' Such a sentence would of course not be understood literally. Instead, it would allow you to convey that you enjoyed the comedy far more effectively than ‘I laughed a lot.'
Similarly, when expressing a strong opinion, a little bit of exaggeration can be quite effective. For instance, if you dislike books by a certain author, and are offered the opportunity to read the latest book by that author, you could respond with ‘I wouldn't touch that book with a ten foot barge-pole.' This expression conveys the same idea--that you prefer keeping some distance from things you don't like--but invoking the image of a barge-pole allows you to convey how strong your dislike is. In literal terms, of course, you have no objections to actually touching the book, but it's just not something you would want to read.
Exaggerating in this way, as I suggested earlier, is mostly acceptable in informal situations only. But as long as you remember this distinction and choose your language based on the situation, you will find that a little bit of exaggeration adds some color to your speech, and allows you express yourself clearly and emphatically.
Nilesh Jahagirdar
tips@skillspark.com
www.skillspark.com
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