Overkill.

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Phil C. - 01 Mar 2011 12:07 GMT

From "The QI Book of the Dead", John Lloyd, John Lloyd and John
Mitchinson, 2009 -

"She countered that she had no idea he'd used the gun on himself,
protesting that he was always prone to over-exaggeration and
melodramatic gesture..."

Over-overstatement?

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Phil C.

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Peter Duncanson - 01 Mar 2011 14:15 GMT

> From "The QI Book of the Dead", John Lloyd, John Lloyd and John
>Mitchinson, 2009 -
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
>
>Over-overstatement?

Well... there's ordinary exaggeration, over-exaggeration,
hyper-exaggeration, and perhaps others.

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Peter Duncanson, UK
(in uk.culture.language.english)

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Molly Mockford - 01 Mar 2011 14:33 GMT

At 14:15:18 on Tue, 1 Mar 2011, Peter Duncanson
<mail@peterduncanson.net> wrote in
<vovpm65nenou0j0fu585b8a2e7ithmrgts@4ax.com>:

>> From "The QI Book of the Dead", John Lloyd, John Lloyd and John
>>Mitchinson, 2009 -
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
>Well... there's ordinary exaggeration, over-exaggeration,
>hyper-exaggeration, and perhaps others.

And under-exaggeration, of course. Methinks the lady doth protest too
little...

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Molly Mockford
Nature loves variety. Unfortunately, society hates it. (Milton Diamond Ph.D.)
(My Reply-To address *is* valid, though may not remain so for ever.)

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Mastrid - 03 Mar 2011 20:23 GMT

> >>"She countered that she had no idea he'd used the gun on himself,
> >>protesting that he was always prone to over-exaggeration and
> >>melodramatic gesture..."

Maybe "over-exaggeration" is what used be "exaggeration" and it's now
necessary to distinguish. I mean, I love hyperbole (or should I say
"I'm loving it" ?). I think it's absolutely sensational and without
it I'd be completely devastated. Don't forget as well that mundane
objects and structures are now "iconic". When I watch one of those
Coast/Countrytracks/Naturefile programmes with their new youthful
dynamic (i.e., irritating) presenters I find myself counting the
hourly combined total use of "amazing" and "incredible" - the figure
can be a dozen an hour - and wondering what adjectives would be used
if those two were banned.

I don't know what made me come to u.c.l.e. today - haven't been here
for absolutely ages as it seemed moribund and spam-choked, but it's
nice to see some old familiar names. I recall a thread with Phil C.
about whether "Tiger Feet" by Mud was still on jukeboxes in Wisbech in
2000 (I imagine the jukeboxes themselves are long gone now) and one
with Molly about moonrakers.

Neil

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Discussion Groups / British English / March 2011

Overkill.