Exaggerations, hyperboles, and idioms are literary devices that are so closely related that people often consider them interchangeable. However, these writing tools are different from one another, even if those differences may seem subtle. Learning the differences and being able to use each device appropriately will enhance your writing. By using hyperboles, exaggerations, and idioms properly, you’ll be able to spice up your stories by using colourful and vivid language to engage your readers.
THE FINE LINE BETWEEN EXAGGERATION AND HYPERBOLE
Everyone exaggerates at times. Whether you want to impress your friends, make an event seem like a bigger deal than it was, create a more extravagant story, or just emphasize a point, chances are, at one time or another, you’ve exaggerated.
When you exaggerate, you expect your listeners or readers to believe what you are telling them. On the other hand, when you use hyperbole, you expect your audience to understand that you are exaggerating to make a point. Hyperbole goes one step beyond exaggeration for emphasis.
For example, if you say that you spent $400 on a pair of shoes that were actually only $200, you are simply exaggerating, perhaps to impress. In this scenario, the exaggeration isn’t excessive enough to be impossible to believe. Your audience may actually believe you. However, if you say that you spent $1,000,000 on a pair of sneakers at Payless, your audience knows that you are obviously exaggerating to make the point that you spent a lot of money on your shoes. Because the amount is so ridiculously high, your audience will not actually believe that you spent a million dollars. They will understand that you are clearly exaggerating the cost for effect.
WHERE DO IDIOMS FIT IN?
Idioms are often confused as both exaggerations and hyperboles. Idioms are figures of speech that consist of phrases with two different meanings. If you were to use an idiom for the shoe scenario discussed above, you would say that your sneakers cost you an arm and a leg. Of course, the shoes did not cost you limbs, which would be the literal meaning of the phrase. Through context and common usage, your audience will know that you mean the shoes were expensive. As another example of an idiom, if you say that it is raining cats and dogs outside, your audience will understand that you mean it is raining a lot: the phrase’s figurative meaning. They will not actually believe the literal meaning of the phrase: that it is raining animals.
Exaggerations, hyperbole, and idioms are all types of figurative language that are used for emphasis in order to make a point.
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