In the 1980s, it became fashionable for footballers to talk about “giving 100%” on the pitch, or “being 100% committed” to their clubs. Before long, this was regularly upgraded to 110%. But even the ...

Stanford scholar Noah Goodman found that people understand nonliteral language – metaphor, hyperbole and exaggerated statements – when they focus on the intent behind the communication. To understand ...

Congratulations to Andy Kessler (“Lay Down Your Weaponization,” Inside View, Jan. 29) for providing another page of content for the book I will never write, “The Hyperbole Apocalypse: How the Humans ...

'Earth-shatteringly good' pizzas may not live up to their billing, but, linguistically, we'll never escape the cycle of exaggeration "Beyond unbelievable, will return" says a happy traveller of her ...

Hyperbole: language that describes something as better or worse than it really is. That’s the online Merriam-Webster definition. Hyperbole is what broadcast news shows, politicians and televangelists ...

The hyper-inflation of language has out-stripped even that of money in modern culture, writes Fintan O'Toole. INFLATION IS much on our minds these days, though at least we have the European Central ...

In recent weeks, there has been some lively discussion on this page about parsing words and use of language, especially when it comes to political agendas. All sides seem to be willing to exaggerate, ...