Hyperbole

**__Hyperbole__: Obvious exaggeration used to emphasize a point or add excitement and humor to a story.** **It may be used to evoke strong feelings or to create a strong impression, but is not meant to be taken literally. It is from Greek, meaning "excess". **


 * Hyperbole is used in tall tales. Tall tales make real and fictional heroes seem larger-than-life by using hyperbole.

Real Person involved in tall tales: Example: Johnny Appleseed actually did walk barefoot often. His feet really did become callused and tough. Yet, his friend's suggestion that it would kill a rattlesnake to bite into the toe of Johnny Appleseed was pure __hyperbole__.

Fictional Hero from tall tales: Pecos Bill is said to have ridden a tornado like any other cowboy would ride a horse. His wife is said to have ridden a catfish as large as a whale. These exaggerations are clearly __hyperbole__. **

Hyperbole can emphasize a truth by exaggerating it. Clearly the Battle of Lexington and Concord took place during the Revolutionary War between the Americans and the British; this is fact. And, it was a great victory for the Americans. Yet the excerpt from the poem emphasizes this truth by exaggerating the actual impact of a single shot during that war.
 * Example from History:**

Here once the embattled farmers stood And fired the shot heard round the world. —Ralph Waldo Emerson, "The Concord Hymn"

 Hyperbole is used in every day speech by all of us.

**Example from Television:** //Michael Palin:// You were lucky. We lived for three months in a brown paper bag in a septic tank. We used to have to get up at six o'clock in the morning, clean the bag, eat a crust of stale bread, go to work down the mill for 14 hours a day week in, week out. When we got home, our Dad would thrash us to sleep with his belt!
 * Monty Python on Being Poor **

"I think I taught that 100,000 times in Science Inquiry class." 
 * Example from Dan Shuchat, famous science teacher:**

My teacher is so old, ""she's mentioned in the Old Testament." //Kaysie O'Brien//
 * Example used from common conversation:**

Activity 1: Paul Bunyan is said to have been such a large infant that he slept in a covered wagon instead of a crib. As an adult, he supposedly used tree trunks as toothpicks and wagon wheels as buttons. In today's world, how might Paul Bunyan get along? List things that could be used by such a giant for each of the items below.

1. Toothbrush: 2. Hat: 3. Shoes: 4. Dinner: 5. Umbrella: 6. Baseball and bat 7. Lunchbox 8. Bed 9. Pencil and Paper 10. Table

<span style="color: #d8810e; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">**Activity 2: Create Your Own Tall Tale. Use exaggeration to write your own tall tale by filling in the blanks below.

In the great village of ############# lived a superhuman named #################. Our superhero had this incredible ability to #########################. One day, #################################. The whole town was worried until ###############. In the end, everything turned out well because ######################. It pays to have a superhero living in your village!**

<span style="color: #e123b6; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">**Activity 3: Become a Comedian. Finish the following starters using your sense of humor.**

1. My sister uses so much makeup

2. My teacher is so old,

3. My dog is so ugly,

4. My aunt is so fat,

5. Your sister's so skinny,

6. My best friend is so forgetful,

7. Your brother is so dumb,

8. The boy's ears are so big,

9. My cousin is so tall,

10. This town is so small,


 * <span style="color: #800000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Read the following poem by Shel Silverstein and underline the phrases in the passage that illustrate hyperbole. **<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">

// Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take The Garbage Out // by Shel Silverstein

Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would not take the garbage out! She’d scour the pots and scrape the pans, Candy the yams and spice the hams, And though her daddy would scream and shout, She simply would not take the garbage out. And so it piled up to the ceilings: Coffee grounds, potato peelings, Brown bananas, rotten peas, Chunks of sour cottage cheese. It filled the can, it covered the floor, It cracked the window, it blocked the door With bacon rinds and chicken bones, Drippy ends of ice cream cones, Prune pits, peach pits, orange peel, Gloppy  glumps of cold oatmeal, Pizza crests and withered greens, Soggy beans and tangerines, Crusts of black burned buttered toast, Gristly bits of beefy roasts. . . The garbage rolled down the hall, It raised the roof, it broke the wall. . . Greasy napkins, cookie crumbs, Globs of gooey bubble gum, Cellophane from green baloney, Rubbery blubbery macaroni, Peanut butter, caked and dry, Curdled milk and crusts of pie, Moldy melons, dried up mustard, Eggshells mixed with lemon custard, Cold french  fries and rancid meat, Yellow lumps of Cream of Wheat. At last the garbage reached so high That finally it touched the sky. And all the neighbors moved away, And none of her friends would come out to play. And finally Sarah Cynthia Stout said, “OK, I’ll take the garbage out!” But then, of course, it was too late. . . The garbage reached across the state, From New York to the Golden Gate. And there, in the garbage she did hate, Poor Sarah met an awful fate, That I cannot right now relate Because the hour is much too late. But children, remember Sarah Stout And always take the garbage out!

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">Activity 5: Look at the image and explain how it is an example of hyperbole.