The subtle art of hyperbole

Everyone loves a good burst of gross overstatement. Everything from being “absolutely gutted” that the dairy ran out of trim milk, to counting that gentle reminder from your boss counts as a “complete bollocking”.

Yep we all do it, and there’s nothing like a overstating the case to illicit the required sympathy or humour.

But it’s a fine line. Often people end up sounding ridiculously precious and out of touch with their use of hyperbole. Take this example:

Fairfax Media’s new chairman Roger Corbett, today faced shareholder accusation a board row had made the company a laughing stock.
A shareholder, former federal Labor small business minister Chris Schacht, received applause at the annual general meeting after he criticised the stoush that ousted former chairman Ron Walker.
''The governance of this board has been appalling,'' Mr Schacht said, describing the board row as a ''killing field''.

I think that might be over-egging the pudding somewhat. Comparing a board room squabble to the genocide of 3 million people? Is some bickering about whether the company is pro-active enough going forward the same as the systematic extermination of your countrymen? You might as well call it a Holocaust.

What happened to the feta and spinach muffins I ordered for morning tea? I can't eat these blueberry ones! This is ethnic cleansing of the worst kind!

Mind you, these are the same people who give themselves bonuses when the company's performance tanks, so it's probably perfectly logical from that perspective.