Dave Shepherd and Howard Shepherd discuss hyperbole and exaggeration. (It’s the best podcast ever!)
Dave talks a bit about our changeover to our new blog site (1:51)
Howard and Dave explore the etymologies of “hyperbole” and “exaggeration” and discuss why speakers tend to exaggerate. (4:01)
Comic uses of hyperbole (10:45)
Music bumper from by “Bongo Booty” by Vincent Van Go Go (14:02)
Political and commercial uses of hyperbole (14:38)
Song: “Immortal,” by Cindy Alexander (20:48)
Rude word of the week: “fascist” (24:08)
Music bumper from “The Corner of Sacco and Vanzetti” by Shibboleth (27:33)
Understatement, the flip-side of hyperbole: meiosis and litotes (28:09)
Music courtesy of The Podsafe Music Network and GarageBand.com
Theme music by Kick the Cat
time: 33:28
size: 23.2 Mb
rating: PG (Young kids should not be playing the dozens nor doing “yo’ mama” jokes.)
If this is the best podcast ever, then I have to say the podcast about euphemism is pretty reasonable.
The origin of the word “Fascism” is in fact the “fasces” (the rods bundled around an axe). I remember reading a text by Mussolini in a political theory seminar, where he is talking about the origin of the word.
While terrific and horrible may mean roughly opposing things, terrible and horrible are virtually interchangeable. However, horrific and terrific are, once again, at odds. Is it the overuse of these in hyperbole that has led to them being so drastically different, or is it something else?
The Log is a fascist butcher. Down with the Log.
Error alert! I just listened to this show, and realized that in addition to saying “sort of” about a dozen times (literally; not hyperbolically), I also said that the word “fasces” was Greek in origin. Fortunately, my brother correctly identified it as Latin. My bad.
WRT fascist: One thing you didn’t mention was why they chose the bundle of sticks as their symbol. The idea was that many together are strong. When I found that out it struck me as ironically similar to their political polar opposites, the communists.
Charles, it is very interesting to me that both ends of the political spectrum in Europe in the 1920s and 30s tried to lay a claim on the idea of “socialism.” I guess the “all for one, one for all” mentality was generally pretty strong back then.
In the spirit of the Yo Mama jokes you told in relation to hyperbole, there’s a popular trend now (especially among teenage gamers) to tell exaggerated Chuck Norris jokes. Some of these are hilarious, some are groaners, but a popular site with a compilation of these jokes is at http://www.chucknorrisfacts.com.
A good example of some:
* There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of animals Chuck Norris allows to live.
* Chuck Norris counted to infinity - twice.
* When Chuck Norris does a pushup, he isn’t lifting himself up, he’s pushing the Earth down.
Great show guys! I love it when you break down a word, like, “this word means this, which is composed of this and that, which happen to mean this…” The whole fasces thing was fascinating.
Shawn, the Chuck Norris facts are great. I’ve found that people either love them or hate them. Here are some of my favorite Norris/Mama facts:
Chuck Norris CAN divide by zero.
Chuck Norris can roundhouse a thought.
Yo Mama’s so fat, she irons her clothes on the driveway.
Yo Mama’s so stupid she took toilet paper to a craps game.
Chuck Norris actually read some of them in a TV show:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64wQMMxvKTc
It seems to me that the “In Soviet Russia…” jokes are somewhat related to both of these strands…
I just listened to this episode and was reminded, at the mention of the hyperbolic use of the word “literally”, of this website: http://literally.barelyfitz.com/
You might enjoy it, too.
- Mike