Purposes (Entry 4+1)

   Hardly anything that requires time and / or energy is done without either purpose or love.

   According to the previous statement, we can conclude that hyperbole (defined by some as a fancy word for deliberate exaggeration), has its purpose, the creator of it has his/her goal, and the core of it has the power to affect perception, understanding, point of view. 

   Even if somebody does it simply "out of love", because maybe he/she likes exaggerating, the hyperbole is still with a goal, purpose and a target.

   The last time I discussed theory and technicalities I only presented a vague and relative description of the purposes of exaggeration, and said I will be open to interpretations. However, now I am going to list several uses of hyperbole. This is not a list I've copied from a definition, or that I've seen on a literature site. It is a mix of all I could think of so far. It may be edited in the future if I come upon other versions or figure out other uses that I have skipped or forgotten.

1. To show great level / extent of something;
2. To grab attention;
3. To present obvious facts in a mocking manner;
4. To be sarcastic;
5. To emphasize / to point out / to put accent on;
6. To show something more clearly;
7. To create vivid descriptions;
8. To increase effects of description;
9. To create a comical / dramatic / ironic effect;
10. For marketing / advertising;

   Of course, we can not set clear lines between each of the uses, and some of them overlap. A case of exaggeration may have several different effects. For example, it can create a comical and a dramatic effect, and thus be used for marketing, or maybe in the newspapers as a headline, for capturing attention.

   It is very likely that I reference this list when I comment on specific examples, so please have the aforementioned points in mind.

Identifying My Own (UN)Intentional Exaggeration (Entry 3+1)

I had given some thought to the idea that other than understanding and identifying hyperbole in other people's writing, I should be able to comment or analyze my own, and detect that which had been done purposelessly and without intention. Scamming through a folder with my files, I came upon a short story I wrote as an assignment last year. It was about a workaholic promising his wife that he wouldn't be so work-obsessed, but he fails to hold on to his words and ends up alone. 

Somewhere on page one, where things are still being introduced, there is a part that goes like this: “All he did, all he ever cared about was his job. His projects. His endless calculations of stuff she couldn't care less about.”

So, word by word, here's how it would have been if it was to be portrayed simply and objectively: Most of the time he was occupied with his job, his projects, and the long calculations of stuff that the female character was not interested in.

Why did I switch them? “MOST” became “ALL” because I must have wanted to emphasize how time-consuming those actions were. “LONG” became ”ENDLESS” for the same reason, i.e. to show the time spent doing them. And finally, “was not interested in” became “She couldn't care less about”, to show the female character's opinion on the previously mentioned subject, in a clearer, concise and terse way.

Later in the story, when Ian (the male character) hands the wife a remote control for the just finished and newly designed robot, Holly, (the female character) who is unaware of the existence of the new robot, asks: “What's gonna happen?” (meaning, when she presses the button). To this, Ian responds with “Miracles”.

World hunger is not to disappear, and world peace is not to be magically established. No death will be reversed and no water will be turned to wine. A new housekeeping robot may slightly affect typical households, but it is not God descending from heaven to judge us. To sum it up, no miracle is to be induced by pressing the button on the remote. 

And yet, this specific word is used to present the level of importance that the effect of the remote control button being pressed has on the character that exclaims "Miracles".

It is interesting to pinpoint that this is not the narrator using hyperbole to emphasize or pinpoint, but it is the character himself that makes an overstatement regarding the outcomes of the pressing of the button. 

And now since my eyelids are closing on their own, not accepting my request to stay open, I will leave the rest of the analysis for some other time. However, I did notice that, consciously or not, I do not exaggerate a lot. And the lack of it in my writing is balanced by its excess of it in my speaking.

When I speak, I always exaggerate...if you get my point!

8 Hours of Photoshopping (Entry 2+1)

NOTE1: This was supposed to be a weekly journal, but after "Google-ing" hyperbole a lot yesterday, I couldn't refrain from comments when I noticed exaggeration few times today. If I continue writing every time I can, I will probably run out of topics by the end of the year, but.. whatever! The number of entries should count!

NOTE2: Stars indicate hyperbole in text I write :)

Anyways, I was fighting with a friend today. Not really fighting as in "I would like to tear your head off your body"(*) way , but more like a heated discussion over who tries more regarding a project. I throw my arguments at him. He yells back. Here's the background to it.

It just happened that earlier that day I spent literally not longer than five minutes "photoshopping" a celebrity's head to another picture and posted it as a joke on Facebook. It randomly popped up on his homepage and he became aware of its existence.

So, his statement goes like this: "Well, at least I tried to figure it out! (referring to something about the task we didn't quite understand) I wasn't playing with Photoshop all day!"

• Really now? ALL day? As in twenty-four hours? 

•  Or let's say, only the part that had passed so far: ALL 18+hours? 

• Or the time of it during which I was awake? ALL 10+hours?

• Let's subtract the time I used to eat, wash, use the bathroom, change clothes, walk from room to room etc. ALL 8+hours?

Let us temporarily assume that I did nothing but use the computer during those eight hours.

There's: program load time; net searching for pictures; time required to get many ideas; dealing with distractions like Facebook or Skype; scratching one's elbow/back/nose, and spent millions of other seconds of incapability to move mouse.(**)

Well, I'm not that much of an addict. Nor I make money out of computer graphics!

I had an appointment at the doctor's today, I came back, watched some TV, I did some online exercises for the the upcoming PSAT, I played the piano (keyboard really) and I was still not as active as I would be in normal medical conditions. That is, I had no physical activity but a 20 minute walk. But eight hours of continuous staring at the monitor, switching elf ears for real ones and "airbrushing" celebrity faces for fun with a computer program?

Duuuuuuuude! That's too much! 

That's like.. like... like over the top! 

Duuuuuuuuuuuude! 8 hours? 

Only a SINGLE program? 

No move, no get coke? 

Not coooooooooool!

I quit this sequence of countless(***) hours in front of this screen now.
When I reread this post tomorrow, it's going to look a lot awfuller than now.


(*) Hyperbole! I'm not a savage!
(**) Millions? That's actually over 11.5 days!
(***) Of course it is countless... if are unaware of what numbers are!!!!

Hyperbole that makes money! (Entry 1+1)

Well, it's obvious and widely known that exaggeration often captures attention.

Question 1: Who needs to capture attention to make money?
Answer 1: Journalists!

When a customer throws glances at a wide range of newspapers, he is more likely to buy the one with the most interesting headline, with the uniquest topic or with a subject that seems intriguing. SO, if a journalist wants to sell his/her story, it should be captivating. Sometimes word play is used. A celebrity name may pop here or there on the front page. But frequently, to emphasize something, the news-person uses hyperbole in the title or headline. Here's an example. I was checking a web site that I oftentimes visit, and I saw an article named "British Spies Wanted To Turn Hitler Into A Woman". As weird as this title sounds, it did it's job, and led me to clicking the link that opens the aforementioned article. With further reading I found out that it was really just feeding him some extra estrogen so that he softens up. The text didn't support the heading.

But I guess that from the start I subconsciously knew that, hence I expected no organ transplantation or a complete make-over announced. Captions of this sort appear everywhere, and we are used to their boasting nature. As a matter of fact, even the title of this post is written in a way that should engage you into further reading. And if you're reading this, it has obviously worked.
This is an example 1 of hyperbole around us and how people (ab)use it.


Stay tuned (or as dictionaries say, stay into proper pitch... but that's metonymy, we'll leave that rhetoric device for another time)

Step 1 says define (Definition Entry)

According to Wikipedia, Hyperbole is the use of exaggeration as a rhetorical device or a figure of speech. It may be used to evoke strong feelings or to create a strong impression, but is not meant to be taken literally. However, I prefer what dictionary.com says: "obvious and intentional exaggeration", because this doesn't limit hyperbole to literature.

Well, the more important thing is, what is hyperbole to me. In life, I see it as a mean of grabbing attention to an event or a subject which is not worthy of some, but the speaker is desperately trying to make it notable. In literature, I see it as something used to enhance the literary value, like adding figures simply to create an effect, some imagery and possibly win points from critics.

Anyways, I'm not going to be closed-minded and look only in the previously set outlines. Thus, I officially declare that from now on I am open to interpretations, and am willing to explore the use of hyperbole beyond the commonly known levels and aspects of it (until I get annoyed, that is).
That should do it for now.

P.S. This is what Google images fished out from the WWW for me about hyperbole. I don't agree with it though, hyperbole is what I'm actually looking for now.