"In less than two years my administration has accomplished more than almost any other administration in the history of our country". Those are the exact words that Donald Trump uttered last year (September 2018) during his address to the General Assembly of the United Nations. Understandably, the amused delegates laughed. The reason for that reaction is quite obvious: what Mr. Trump said is simply not true. In fact, it was so blantantly false that the diplomats could not help sniggering. Mr. Trump's spin doctors and supporters were quick to point out that their president only resorted to hyperbole but they neglected to mention that there comes a point where hyperbole is ridiculous. Just last Monday (October 7) Mr. Trump referred to his "great and unmatched wisdom", by which he means that there is nobody on the planet as wise as him. Let that sink in.
It is true that in colloquial speech we often use exaggerations. You may, for instance, say "Thanks for your help, Jeremy. You're the best" or "I'm so sorry I forgot about it. I'm the worst". Clearly, we don't think that Jeremy is the best in the world (at what?). By the same token we don't truly believe that there's no human being worse than us (at what?). An overstatement can be a figure of speech (usually not a very effective one) but you get the picture. However, there are obvious limits to such a rhetoric device.
If I were to say that Fermín Cacho "has won more Olympic gold medals than almost any other athlete in history" I would be lying because the record shows that he only won one gold medal whereas Michael Phelps has obtained 23 and there are as many as 78 other athletes with five or more gold medals at the Olympics. Historic political achievement is not as easily measured as gold medals but it can certainly be gaged. Were they alive, presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt (to name but a few) could boast significantly more impressive achievements than Mr. Trump.
Anyhow, leaving narcissistic personality disorders and self-deception aside, I believe that exaggerations are common because they are easy. The problem, as in the abovementioned UN fiasco, is that over-the-top statements entail an inevitable downside: people don't take you seriously.
The tendency to use superlatives, to which many native speakers are no strangers, is also frequent amongst inexperienced learners. Indeed, basic and intermediate students often abuse the adverb very. Do the really consider every opinion they hear to be very interesting? Probably not. Why don't they use other terms such as fairly, somewhat, rather, quite, extremely, utterly? Well, because it's easy to say very and also because they probably don't know the other modifiers. Simple as that. They don't know the words. And that's precisely the kind of habit we should avoid at an advanced level.
At an advanced level you ought to be able to run the gamut: pairs such as hot and cold are fine when you're a beginner but at this point you should be aware of this lexical continuum: boiling, hot, warm, tepid, cool, cold, freezing.
When you abuse simple adjectives like important or big you may sound simple-minded yourself. I am not saying those terms should never be used. I'm just pointing out that if those adjectives are your usual choice you will not sound articulate.
So, steer clear of hyperbole and try to be as accurate as possible. Overstatements can be used to great effect in poetry and some of them are part of everyday idiomatic expressions (I'm so hungry I could eat a horse) but exaggerations tend to be cheap. A film you didn't like does not need to be the worst movie ever. You can say it was predictable or dull or dreary or not memorable or maybe it didn't meet your expectations. Don't forget that people who constantly abuse hyperbole invariably come across as weak speakers. Now you can enjoy this short video. Just remember you're not Shakespeare.
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