179 - What's a Hyperbole? Examples and a Fun Conversation with Mara
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In my opinion, people in the United States are dramatic. And one of the ways we express that drama is through hyperboles. Have you ever heard someone say, I'm so hungry I could eat a horse? Well, if so, that's a hyperbole. It's not to be taken literally. They probably wouldn't actually eat a horse.

It just expresses how extremely hungry they are. Hyperboles in general are figures of speech that involve exaggerated statements and claims that, once again, are not to be taken literally. They're used to emphasize a point or to evoke strong feelings such as humor, drama, or enthusiasm.

In today's lesson, my mom, Mara, is on the show as my guest. And together, we'll share common hyperboles in English. First, we'll go through a list of common ones so that you get a good feel for them. Then we'll chat about life using hyperboles in conversation. Each question I ask my mom will use a common hyperbole.

Be sure to check out the episode notes for the cheat sheet of hyperboles used in today's lesson. And if you would like the premium content for this lesson, which includes the PDF transcript, quiz, and more, be sure to sign up to season four. You'll find the link in the episode notes or on the website at AmericanEnglishPodcast.com. Without further ado...

Let's begin. Hi, everybody. My name is Shawna, and this is the American English Podcast. My goal here is to teach you the English spoken in the United States. Through common expressions, pronunciation tips, and interesting cultural snippets or stories, I hope to keep this fun, useful, and interesting. Let's do it. Hi, Mom. How's your day so far? Hi. Very good. How are you? Good.

Doing well.

Mom, do you by chance know what a hyperbole is? I know there's two different kinds. One's a math term and one's an English term, and I didn't know exactly what it was until you just told me. Okay. Now, I have a list of very common hyperboles here. Mom, do you mind reading through them? Let's go through them one by one. Number one, I'm melting. I'm melting. When might we say I'm melting? Well...

in the summer when it's 116 degrees outside and you're just so hot, you feel like you're melting. Yeah. And where you live actually in California is

extremely hot. You have scorching temperatures in summertime. I've been melting all summer. The longest summer ever. Yeah. And the second one, we have this bag weighs a ton. I can hear this coming out of your mouth. Maybe my purse gets overloaded and I'm like, what's in here? This bag weighs a ton and it's got an umbrella and a camera and everything else. Right. And a ton of

Do you actually know how much that is? It's 2,000 pounds. So 2,000 pounds is a ton. So obviously your bag doesn't weigh a ton. We cannot lift a ton, but we might exaggerate that something's very heavy by saying it weighs a ton. Now that person is as old as dirt.

That just means a very, very old person, maybe 99 years old, something like that. You're as old as dirt. So it's not very nice, but in the right context, it can be funny. You would probably laugh. Or like if you say it about yourself, maybe I feel like I'm as old as dirt. Yeah.

Can you read the last one? Yeah, my mouth was on fire. Maybe if you had hot sauce on your burrito or something and you're telling somebody how hot it was, my mouth was on fire. Right, perfect. One thing I wanted to mention before we get into the heart of our conversation is that a hyperbole can also be called a hyperbolic statement.

Something that is hyperbolic is exaggerated. It's dramatic. You can also use that term to describe a person who uses a lot of these exaggerated phrases. That person is being so hyperbolic. It's a very advanced English term. I swear if you use this, people are going to say, wow, your English is fantastic. Let me give you two more examples.

The critics' review was so hyperbolic. It was hard to take their opinion seriously. The ad's claims were clearly hyperbolic. They promised perfect English fluency in just 24 hours. Of course, from your effort, I'm sure you've realized it takes a bit longer to learn English. The ad was definitely hyperbolic.

All right, let's move on to the second part of our conversation. Remember, each question is going to contain a hyperbole. So pay attention. The first one I have here is actually something I mentioned in a previous episode.

I did an episode about the common English expression to cry one's eyes out. And I mentioned that we also say we dance our feet off and we sing our hearts out if we're doing these things in a way that's over the top. Right. So my question for you is, have you danced your feet off before?

I think about maybe my wedding was so much fun at the reception and everybody was dancing the whole time and it was just like the best day ever. And so, yeah, I would say, oh, we danced our feet off. And when you got married, was there a specific dance style that was popular that, you know, everybody disco wasn't? And then, right? It was after the disco era. Yeah.

It was just early 80s rock and roll, good music, still the best. Yeah, I kind of feel like with music, at least for the people I know, your heart and your mind and the music that you enjoy tends to be what you listen to during your high school or like shortly afterwards, like your early 20s.

Is that true for you? That's true for me. Yes. So who's your favorite band right now or back then? Back then. I used to love the B-52s, which is kind of wild. So was that you were dancing your feet off to the B-52s? Sure. Gosh, I can't even. Led Zeppelin. I know. I love Led Zeppelin. They've been around forever. Yeah. That's sort of classic. The other thing I just mentioned was to sing your heart out.

And I know that back in high school, you used to do something called cruising. Can you explain what cruising is? Well, everybody would go out on Friday or Saturday night and basically just drive from one end of town to the other and see who else is out. And maybe you'd see a friend and you'd pull over in a parking lot and visit with them for a while and then get back in and keep cruising. So wait, you're

You're in your car and you just drive to look at people? Pretty much. Yeah. Everybody would be out in cars and you just hope to run into somebody and then you'd pull over and maybe there'd be a parking lot with a bunch of friends in their cars and you'd get out and visit and stuff. And when you're driving, you would always have your favorite music on full blast and you'd all be singing your hearts out like ACDC or Van Halen or, you know, a couple that I think of that we listened to in high school.

And you can also say, and you said this earlier, to sing at the top of your lungs. That's a very common way to say, to sing very loudly. Loud as you can. Just imagine all your friends singing your favorite song at the top of your lungs. You sang your hearts out. And then we also had to cry your eyes out.

Which do you want to touch on that? Thinking like maybe a sad movie, like love story, something that's really sad. And at the end of the movie, you cry your eyes out. Don't really cry your eyes out, but it's just so sad that you cry. Right. Once again, these are not to be taken literally.

Then, of course, we have to laugh your head off. Speaking about losing body parts, we don't literally laugh our heads off. They don't fall off of our bodies. But when we're laughing hard, we say we laugh our heads off. Have you ever laughed your head off while watching a movie or a TV show? Probably a few. One of them that comes to mind is the National Lampoon Family Vacation. I think I laughed through the whole movie and laughed.

I was actually on a date and my date got up and moved. I guess I was embarrassing him because I was laughing so hard. It's just the whole movie's funny. Is there a particular scene that you remember from

where, you know, he actually got up and left his seat to be away from you. I think there's one scene where they go on a picnic and they have Aunt Edna along with them and she made a picnic lunch and then her dog peed on the picnic basket, but they weren't aware. And so they were all eating their wet sandwiches and they realized what it was. She just kept eating, but they were all, ah, gross. I honestly don't remember the details of it, but

It's been referenced so often in conversation growing up that I feel like I should know the cultural references there. Yeah. What's the name of the movie again? Just to. It's National Lampoon, which they make a bunch of movies, but it's Family Vacation with Chevy Chase. It's from 1983. OK, cool. OK, so have you ever been bored to death during a movie? I can't.

Think of a movie because I would probably just stop watching, but watching football with my husband. Yeah, boring. Bored to death. They're like three hours long. And just when you think it's almost over, the last five minutes takes another hour. So yeah, football. You know, football in the U.S., it's usually on TV Sunday, Monday, Thursday, Sunday, Monday and Thursday. So Sunday,

there's a monopoly on who gets the television. Yes. And football, it's Joe's time. So yeah, I find other things too. I'm sure a lot of people can relate to that, having a significant other or somebody in the household that likes to watch one show. And if you like watching TV or you have another show, there's a conflict. But there's so many technological devices now. I'm sure people are on their iPads or their

phones or maybe just not even watching TV, maybe doing something else like reading or going out on a walk. You ever got stuck going to an actual game? I mean, one. And then after that, you're like, no, you go go with your friends. Have fun. I think I'm going to stay home. I don't want to sit there for six hours watching these guys play football. So football is, of course, American football with the

Now,

Now taxes is 100% free when you file in the TurboTax app, if you didn't file with us last year. Oh yeah? Yeah, just do your own taxes in the app by 2-18. What if I have lots of forms? All good, all 100% free. What if I had three jobs? Still 100% free. What if I once saw Bigfoot?

That has nothing to do with taxes, so still 100% free. Now that's what I'm talking about. Now this is taxes. See if you qualify in the TurboTax app. Excludes TurboTax Live must start and file an app by 218. Have you ever been so hungry you could eat a horse?

I remember in college not having any money and not having money to buy groceries specifically. And I remember one time when we were so desperate, there were four of us, and the only thing that we had was frozen carrots. And it was just sad. And we actually went to a friend's house and asked him to buy us dinner.

And he did. He took us to an Italian restaurant. We had a meal. So that was memorable. We were just so hungry and we didn't have any money for groceries. And it was just like, you know, the...

Did you pick the richest friend around you or how did you choose this particular person to take you out to eat? We did. We had a friend who had his own house and he had his own airplane and we thought, let's go ask him if he'll buy us dinner. And sure, he was happy to buy us dinner. So anyway, I was pretty desperate. Yeah. Was that like that all throughout college, though, where you were struggling to find money to eat?

We had a very small budget. I lived with my sister and our weekly budget for groceries was, I believe it was $10. So we had a lot of macaroni and cheese and a can of refried beans might be a meal. Yeah, I mean, we were used to it. It's just when you got down to frozen carrots, it was like the bottom of the bottom. Sad. Yeah. Speaking of food, let's move to my dessert question.

Have you ever eaten a dessert that tasted like heaven on earth? Heaven on earth is a good one. It's really good. Probably a lot, but let's see. One that comes to mind is there's a restaurant in Lake Tahoe. Actually, I think it's a chain, but it's called The Chart House. And we went for my husband's birthday one time and sat in the window overlooking the lake and we had hot lava cake.

And so if you've never had it, it's like a chocolate cake. And when you cut into it, hot pudding pours out like hot lava. And it's just it's to die for. It's delicious. It's to die for. Do you hear that? You die for it and it's heaven on earth. Yeah. Yeah. That's actually a very, very good example because.

Lake Tahoe itself is beautiful. If people don't know what that is, can you share what that is? It's a big alpine lake, actually, that's right on the border of California and Nevada. And it's beautiful blue, clear blue water. It's just gorgeous. And so this particular restaurant, they set us right in the window and we had a view overlooking the lake. And it was just a very special occasion. And I guess everything tastes better. But anyway, that lava cake stands out. That was a

memorable dessert. It was heaven on earth. Back when I was in high school, I took a trip with friends to Europe. And I have this memory of being in the Alps with my friends and it's starting to rain. And we got cardboard boxes, cut them open and slid down the side of the Alps in the rain overlooking a beautiful valley and

And I remember thinking, I am floating on air. This is one of the best moments in my entire life. I can't believe I'm here. I can't believe the scenery. I can't believe anything. Have you ever felt so happy it felt like you were floating on air?

I think, well, maybe one of my very happy memories that I can think of is finding out that I was going to be a grandma. And then five times now, five granddaughters. That just makes me so happy. So do you remember how you found out you were going to be a grandma? Yeah, it was actually Thanksgiving. And we showed up at my son's house and they had

t-shirts made that were, it said, you know, turkey in the oven or something. And I stared at it. So that's kind of a weird shirt, but it is Thanksgiving. And I finally realized what it meant. And then it was like, oh, yay. I don't think people understand what to have a turkey in the oven, what that might mean. Well, there's another saying here called a bun in the oven, which is way more common, which just means you're pregnant.

So having a bun in the oven is another way of saying you're pregnant. So having a turkey in the oven, it was sort of a play on that, which is why it took me so long to figure it out. But anyway, another way that I think of floating on air is when you have the most comfortable pair of shoes and you're like, oh, I'm floating on air. They're so comfortable and soft. And anyway, that's another way of saying that.

Since we've been talking about things that are so happy, let's change gears. Have you ever been so angry you felt like you could explode? I can think of something. AT&T.

You guys, AT&T is an internet company. They provide services other than that also. Telephone, internet, cable TV. It's an American technology. I don't even remember what it stands for. But anyway, they sort of have almost a monopoly here in the United States. Yeah, just trying to deal with them is very challenging. And if you ever need to cancel...

Usually it takes hours, and at least for me and also for my mom, I know through many conversations in the past, if you ever try and cancel with them, you're on the phone for hours. You usually end up in tears.

At least for me, I've cried on the phone because they won't let you cancel. They say, OK, no problem. They pass you off to the next person. So you explain the whole thing over again and they say, OK, no problem. They pass you off to the next person. And after you've explained it to about 10 different people, they try and give you a deal. What if we do this? And what if we give you a discount? And it's like after hours, you realize I'm getting nowhere. And it's just, oh, it's irritating and aggravating. It makes me angry. So...

You might cry your eyes out or you might feel so angry that you'll explode. Won't actually explode. That would be disturbing if people exploded around us when they were mad. Yeah, that's funny. And all right. So I only have a few more questions here. Let's see. Let's see. Who would you want to meet in your wildest dreams if you could meet anyone?

like anyone from history or from the modern day world? Well, I love to read. So I'm thinking Jane Austen. I love all her stories. I love England. I love that whole era. It would just be so fun to go there and have a tea party with Jane Austen and just talk to her. I would love that. What do you think the conversation would be about?

I don't know. Maybe I would ask her, you know, what's her inspiration for her different stories? Because I love them all. What's it like living in England in that era? You know, maybe the late 1800s. I don't know. Just it would just be such a treat. Yeah. And then you could try all of the treats that we actually see on the British baking show. Yes. Yeah. Is there any specific treat that comes to mind?

No, I just holler biscuits and tea and scones with clotted cream and jam. And I don't know all the things that they talk about that just sound like that would just be fun. Yeah, that does sound amazing. I actually thought about that question for a long time. Who would you meet if you could meet anybody in history? And I really can't come up with something.

Because I think a lot of the people that, you know, a lot of people say Einstein. I honestly would not know what to ask Einstein if I met him. Be bored to death. Be bored to death. Even just, you know, Nobel Peace Prize winners. I'm not, I don't feel like I'm Joe Rogan. So I think I would ask the wrong questions and then the conversation might go downhill and it would just be awkward. Yeah. Yeah.

I don't know. I think just meeting a really fun, playful person. I think I would like to meet Julia Child because, you know, just seeing her on TV, she brought French cooking to the United States and she was just such a goofball and just so friendly and really passionate about culture and food, which is kind of right up my alley that I think we would have just a good time. Yeah. Yeah. And baking together, maybe bake something together. Yeah, that would be fun. Yeah.

Now, speaking of France, I know a long time ago, we had a very special time in an area of France, and it had to do something with dad's work.

And I know that we can use another expression in here. I'm trying to squeeze it in. This place left you absolutely speechless. Do you know which area I'm talking about? Yes. So my husband, Shauna's dad, is an electrician and he was working for a doctor in Fairfield, California, who owns a chateau in France. And he said, oh, you should go. And he said, oh, well, don't tell my wife that because she's really going to want to go. And he said, no, no, no, I'm serious. So

Shauna was living in Spain at the time in 2012. And we drove to the Chateau from Spain. And it was actually a built in what 1500s? A real Chateau. And the just the three of us, we had such an amazing time. It was just, I pinched myself. I mean, that's another term. I didn't really pinch myself. But it's like, is this real? It was just so surreal.

Just to be clear, a chateau is like a castle. It's like that sort of felt like someone's like a rich person's former residence. And inside the walls were made of stone. There was actually armor. What do you call that? Just armor, a suit of armor. A suit of armor like a knight would wear.

One of the special things I also remember from that chateau was the bows and arrows. We did archery in their gardens.

And then took a little tour of Sarlat, which was the little town nearby. We went to the farmer's market in Sarlat and went and saw where they discovered Cro-Magnon Man. Went inside some caves from 15,000 years ago and saw the art on the walls. It was just such a special trip. So once again, that left you speechless.

And actually, that is sort of literal. Like when you are really surprised by something, if something amazes you, what happens? You're at a loss for words, right? It leaves you speechless. So that's sort of true.

So let's go through the list that we just talked about. We started off by talking about losing our body parts, like dancing our feet off, singing our hearts out, crying our eyes out, laughing our heads off, being bored to death. She spoke about American football.

We talked about being so hungry you can eat a horse. We don't eat horses when we're hungry, but you feel so hungry you could eat a horse. And we moved on to talking about when we're not hungry and we're actually enjoying a meal, it might feel or taste like heaven on earth, which is very good, obviously. Another good one of these hyperboles was floating on air.

when you feel like you're extremely happy. Then we got angry. We got so angry we could explode, like when we're talking to AT&T and trying to cancel our internet. Then my mom mentioned she would meet Jane Austen in her wildest dreams, right? That's a great hyperbole. What would you do in your wildest dreams?

And last but not least, we had speechless. When something leaves you speechless, it leaves you in a state of awe. You are amazed or you're at a loss for words.

Now, I have two other ones, and I'm just going to ask if you use them. The first one I actually remember from the movie Titanic. So that came out in 1997. And there was a scene where Leonardo DiCaprio stands at the front or the bow of the ship. He spreads his arms wide and he says, I'm at the top of the world.

Now, it's a very iconic scene, and it kind of emphasized how much freedom he felt, how much excitement. Have you ever used that expression before? Have you ever used that hyperbole, I'm at the top of the world or I'm on the top of the world?

I may have used being on top of the world, just meaning I'm just like, nothing could be better. I'm just at this great point right now. Whatever's happening is just, I'm so happy and everything's going so well. I'm on top of the world. But

Can't think of anything specifically, but I'm sure I have. I think I would use it too. It's just, it just has to be the right moment. You know, it has to feel really epic, for one, like where you're just like, this is just so amazing. Kind of like how I felt, I think, when I was in the Alps in Austria with my high school friends. I felt like I was on top of the world.

Like nothing could be better. But what were you going to say? You were going to say something. Oh, I was just thinking about it's not as exciting as being in the Alps. But like when college was over, when I took my last final, it was like the greatest feeling. I'm on top of the world. My finals are all done. I get to go home for the summer and no more homework, no more studying. Anyway, that I don't know that came to mind.

I feel like it can be cheesy, a little bit corny if you use it and the situation's not very epic. You know, that was a very personal epic moment. Like, oh, goodness, it's over. I'm done. I finished my last final. You know, I need a drink.

The last thing I have is, so I use this, I used it more so in the past, and I'm curious if you do. Say, for example, I'm having a party. Or no, let's imagine I go to a party at a club, and it's so packed that you just feel like sardines, like you're so crammed in there. I might say that everybody and their mom came to the party.

And I don't mean that literally their moms came to the party. They just came and maybe everybody else in town. It feels like everybody else in town came, too, because it was so packed.

Have you ever used everybody and their mom to emphasize that a lot of people were at a specific event? I haven't used everybody and their mom, but I've used probably everybody and their brother or everybody and their cousin. Same thing. It was just so crowded that every person there and everybody they're related to was there. It was just so crowded.

See, I haven't heard those before. So that's interesting. I think in context, you now know we can add some moms or brothers or cousins or some relative, and you will know that they just mean a lot of people.

So that's the end of this episode. We had a lot of expressions here, a lot of hyperboles that you can use in everyday life. I will be sure to post the list in the episode notes for you, just in case you want to reference those. In any case, what are you doing for the rest of the day?

I'm not sure. Got granddaughters here. Maybe go to the park or what we're doing, making some homemade pizza. Yeah, I think that's all we have planned so far. Hopefully the pizza will be heaven on earth. Will taste like heaven on earth. Thank you so much for coming on the show. Thank you. Thank you.

That's it for today. Once again, if you want to dive deeper into this episode, be sure to sign up to season4 at AmericanEnglishPodcast.com or follow the link in the episode notes. I hope you have the best day ever. Enjoy. Bye.

Thank you for listening to this episode of the American English Podcast. Remember, it's my goal here to not only help you improve your listening comprehension, but to show you how to speak like someone from the States. If you want to receive the full transcript for this episode, or you just want to support this podcast, make sure to sign up to premium content on AmericanEnglishPodcast.com. Thanks and hope to see you soon.

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