14 July 2013

hyperbole

[hahy-pur-buh-lee]

noun Rhetoric .

1. obvious and intentional exaggeration.
2. an extravagant statement or figure of speech not intended to be taken literally, as ‘to wait an eternity’, or ‘I’m so hungry I could eat a horse’.

Example sentence:

‘The aspiring politician’s campaign promises were more hyperbole than policy’.

Compare litotes.

Origin:
1520–30; < Greek hyperbolḗ excess, exaggeration, throwing beyond, equivalent to hyper- hyper- + bolḗ throw

Synonyms
2. overstatement.

Antonyms
2. understatement.

Today’s aphorism

The thoughtless are rarely wordless.

Howard W. Newton

On this day

14 July 1789 – Bastille Day – commemorating the storming of the Bastille.

14 July 1881 – death (?) of William H. Bonney aka Billy ‘The Kid’. American outlaw. Legend has it that he killed 21 men, although historians believe it may have been between 4 and 9 men. He was shot dead by Sheriff Pat Garrett around 14 July 1881. Some conspiracy theorists believe that Bonney did not get shot that day, but that Garrett staged the shooting so that Billy ‘The Kid’ could escape. Born 23 November 1859.