Thursday, April 21, 2011

ROFL, or Hyperbowl

"So, how was the movie?" my spouse asked.  "It was good," I replied, continuing with, "It showed great use of hyperbole."  She arched an eyebrow, so I added, "We learned about hyperbole today in class."  She smiled knowingly (yes, I like teaching more than I admit) and went back to reading a book on her Kindle.

This week's poem, "I Can't Forget You." has a line where a graffiti artist resists using hyperbole.

"Mr. K, you said it wrong.  It's hyperbowl."
"No, it's pronounced hahy-pur-buh-lee."
"Oh."

Hyperbole is a statement or figure of speech used to exaggerate for effect, most often in humourous stories.  Phrases such as "ice cream cone a mile high" or "this book weighs a ton".  Or, the examples I wrote on the chalkboard to help my students understand the concept:

ROLF

"What does ROLF mean?"
"It's rolling on floor laughing!" 
"When you're typing, do you roll on the floor?"
"No, of course not.  How can you type and roll on the floor at the same time?"  Laughing ensues.

"Here's another example."  I wrote "mosquitoes as big as dogs" on the board.  More laughter.
"Mr. K, mosquitoes here only get as big as bees."

Yep, they get the idea.

No comments: