Hyperbole--an extreme exaggeration to make a point
Timeout
All by myself Alone in a room. My mom put me in timeout. So lonely, it’s been 10,000 years, So lonely no one remembers me at all, So lonely my whole world is just this room. Oh wait! My 5 minutes are up. Goodbye, I’m going out to play! What Am I? I’m bigger than the entire earth More powerful than the sea Though a million, billion have tried Not one could ever stop me I control each person with my hand And hold up fleets of ships. I can make them bend to my will With one word from my lips. I’m the greatest power in the world In this entire nation. No one should ever try to stop A child’s imagination |
Sick
by Shel Silverstien "I cannot go to school today," Said little Peggy Ann McKay. "I have the measles and the mumps, A gash, a rash and purple bumps. My mouth is wet, my throat is dry, I'm going blind in my right eye. My tonsils are as big as rocks, I've counted sixteen chicken pox And there's one more—that's seventeen, And don't you think my face looks green? My leg is cut—my eyes are blue-- It might be instamatic flu. I cough and sneeze and gasp and choke, I'm sure that my left leg is broke-- My hip hurts when I move my chin, My belly button's caving in, My back is wrenched, my ankle's sprained, My 'pendix pains each time it rains. My nose is cold, my toes are numb. I have a sliver in my thumb. My neck is stiff, my voice is weak, I hardly whisper when I speak. My tongue is filling up my mouth, I think my hair is falling out. My elbow's bent, my spine ain't straight, My temperature is one-o-eight. My brain is shrunk, I cannot hear, There is a hole inside my ear. I have a hangnail, and my heart is—what? What's that? What's that you say? You say today is. . .Saturday? G'bye, I'm going out to play!" |
“The People, Yes”
by Carl Sandburg
They have yarns
Of a skyscraper so tall they had to put hinges
On the two top stories so to let the moon go by,
Of one corn crop in Missouri when the roots
Went so deep and drew off so much water
The Mississippi riverbed that year was dry.
Of pancakes so thin they had only one side,
Of "a fog so thick we shingl'ed the barn and six feet out on the fog,"
Of Pecos Pete straddling a cyclone in Texas and riding it to the
west coast where "it rained out under him,"
Of the man who drove a swarm of bees across the Rocky Mountains
and the Desert "and didn't lose a bee."
Of a mountain railroad curve where the engineer in his cab can
touch the caboose and spit in the conductor's eye,
Of the boy who climbed a cornstalk growing so fast he would have
starved to death if they hadn't shot biscuits up to him,"
Of the old man's whiskers: "When the wind was with him his
whiskers arrived a day before he did,"
Of the hen laying a square egg and cackling, "Ouch! " and of hens
laying eggs with the dates printed on them,
Of the ship captain's shadow: it froze to the deck one cold
winter night,
Of mutineers on that same ship put to chipping rust with rubber
hammers,
Of the sheep-counter who was fast and accurate: "I just count
their feet and divide by four,"
Of the man so tall he must climb a ladder to shave himself,
Of the runt so teeny-weeny it takes two men and a boy to see him,
Of mosquitoes: one can kill a dog, two of them a man,
Of a cyclone that sucked cookstoves out of the kitchen, up the
chimney flue, and on to the next town,
Of the same cyclone picking up wagon-tracks in Nebraska and
dropping them over in the Dakotas,
Of the hook-and-eye snake unlockin itself into forty pieces, each
piece two inches long, then in nine seconds flat snapping
itself together again,
Of the watch swallowed by the cow: when they butchered her a year
later the watch was running and had the correct time,
Of horned snakes, hoop snakes that roll themselves where they
want to go, and rattlesnakes carrying bells instead of
rattles on their tails,
Of the herd of cattle in California getting lost in a giant
redwood tree that had been hollowed out,
Of the man who killed a snake by putting its tail in its mouth so
it swallowed itself,
Of railroad trains whizzing along so fast they reached the
station before the whistle,
Of pigs so thin the farmer had to tic knots in their tails to
keep them from crawling through the cracks in their pens,
Of Paul Bunyan's big blue ox, Babe, measuring between the eyes
forty-two ax-handles and a plug of Star tobacco exactly,
Of John Henry's hammer and the curve of its swing and his singing
of it as " a rainbow round mv shoulder."
They have yarns . . .
by Carl Sandburg
They have yarns
Of a skyscraper so tall they had to put hinges
On the two top stories so to let the moon go by,
Of one corn crop in Missouri when the roots
Went so deep and drew off so much water
The Mississippi riverbed that year was dry.
Of pancakes so thin they had only one side,
Of "a fog so thick we shingl'ed the barn and six feet out on the fog,"
Of Pecos Pete straddling a cyclone in Texas and riding it to the
west coast where "it rained out under him,"
Of the man who drove a swarm of bees across the Rocky Mountains
and the Desert "and didn't lose a bee."
Of a mountain railroad curve where the engineer in his cab can
touch the caboose and spit in the conductor's eye,
Of the boy who climbed a cornstalk growing so fast he would have
starved to death if they hadn't shot biscuits up to him,"
Of the old man's whiskers: "When the wind was with him his
whiskers arrived a day before he did,"
Of the hen laying a square egg and cackling, "Ouch! " and of hens
laying eggs with the dates printed on them,
Of the ship captain's shadow: it froze to the deck one cold
winter night,
Of mutineers on that same ship put to chipping rust with rubber
hammers,
Of the sheep-counter who was fast and accurate: "I just count
their feet and divide by four,"
Of the man so tall he must climb a ladder to shave himself,
Of the runt so teeny-weeny it takes two men and a boy to see him,
Of mosquitoes: one can kill a dog, two of them a man,
Of a cyclone that sucked cookstoves out of the kitchen, up the
chimney flue, and on to the next town,
Of the same cyclone picking up wagon-tracks in Nebraska and
dropping them over in the Dakotas,
Of the hook-and-eye snake unlockin itself into forty pieces, each
piece two inches long, then in nine seconds flat snapping
itself together again,
Of the watch swallowed by the cow: when they butchered her a year
later the watch was running and had the correct time,
Of horned snakes, hoop snakes that roll themselves where they
want to go, and rattlesnakes carrying bells instead of
rattles on their tails,
Of the herd of cattle in California getting lost in a giant
redwood tree that had been hollowed out,
Of the man who killed a snake by putting its tail in its mouth so
it swallowed itself,
Of railroad trains whizzing along so fast they reached the
station before the whistle,
Of pigs so thin the farmer had to tic knots in their tails to
keep them from crawling through the cracks in their pens,
Of Paul Bunyan's big blue ox, Babe, measuring between the eyes
forty-two ax-handles and a plug of Star tobacco exactly,
Of John Henry's hammer and the curve of its swing and his singing
of it as " a rainbow round mv shoulder."
They have yarns . . .
The Cheesiest Skit in the History of Acting!
The Adventures of Captain Hyperbole—The Greatest, Most Wonderful Person on the Entire Planet (or maybe Universe)!
News reporter: Hello, and welcome to Channel 4 News. Our breaking story today deals with the most catastrophic event in earth’s entire history. Our only hope is in Captain Hyperbole. Without him, the nuclear meteor from Mars will slam into the Earth in three short hours, leaving nothing in its wake. We can see from these pictures in Spain that panic is quickly escalating. (pause) Look! It’s a simile; it’s a metaphor; no, wait! It’s Captain Hyperbole!
Captain Hyperbole: (With a “super-hero voice) This situation is at least a million, billion times worse than I’d imagined! Out of the millions of tasks I’ve completed, this is certainly the most difficult in the entire world. The strong smell of fear is overwhelming—but I will save the world!
News reporter: Look! Captain Hyperbole has blasted into space with his meteor-smashing device! Let’s hope he’s not too late. The few hours he has to save the world will never, ever be enough. We’re doomed!
(Long pause)
Wait—he’s reached the meteor—it’s breaking up! His punch is so powerful it’s vaporizing the entire meteor! We’re saved!
Captain Hyperbole returns to earth and the Channel 4 News for an interview).
News reporter: Captain Hyperbole—thanks for giving us this interview. You are truly amazing.
Captain Hyperbole: I am the most wonderful person in the world—my theme song even says so.
News reporter: Okay….and you’re so humble, too. So let’s talk about…
Captain Hyperbole: (interrupting) Wait…(he puts his hand to his ear, listening intently) I hear the meowing of a kitten stuck in a tree in…Mongolia. I’m off! (he flies away).
The Adventures of Captain Hyperbole—The Greatest, Most Wonderful Person on the Entire Planet (or maybe Universe)!
News reporter: Hello, and welcome to Channel 4 News. Our breaking story today deals with the most catastrophic event in earth’s entire history. Our only hope is in Captain Hyperbole. Without him, the nuclear meteor from Mars will slam into the Earth in three short hours, leaving nothing in its wake. We can see from these pictures in Spain that panic is quickly escalating. (pause) Look! It’s a simile; it’s a metaphor; no, wait! It’s Captain Hyperbole!
Captain Hyperbole: (With a “super-hero voice) This situation is at least a million, billion times worse than I’d imagined! Out of the millions of tasks I’ve completed, this is certainly the most difficult in the entire world. The strong smell of fear is overwhelming—but I will save the world!
News reporter: Look! Captain Hyperbole has blasted into space with his meteor-smashing device! Let’s hope he’s not too late. The few hours he has to save the world will never, ever be enough. We’re doomed!
(Long pause)
Wait—he’s reached the meteor—it’s breaking up! His punch is so powerful it’s vaporizing the entire meteor! We’re saved!
Captain Hyperbole returns to earth and the Channel 4 News for an interview).
News reporter: Captain Hyperbole—thanks for giving us this interview. You are truly amazing.
Captain Hyperbole: I am the most wonderful person in the world—my theme song even says so.
News reporter: Okay….and you’re so humble, too. So let’s talk about…
Captain Hyperbole: (interrupting) Wait…(he puts his hand to his ear, listening intently) I hear the meowing of a kitten stuck in a tree in…Mongolia. I’m off! (he flies away).
Your examples!
"The town where I grew up is so isolated,...
- "it makes ghost towns look popular" Jasmine, from Shannon Elementary School, in Pinole, California, USA
- "our theatre is still waiting to get Charlie Chaplin movies..." Logan, from Nelson, BC, Canada
- " I don't even know where it is!" Jessica, from St. Pete's School in Mansfield, USA
- "the only friend I had was a duck." Britni, from Larose Middle School, in Larose, Louisiana, USA
- "we just recently got news of this 'new fangled' technology called VCRs." Cameron, from
Bukit Panjang Gov't. H. S., Singapore - "We had to drive to the city for gossip" Ed
- "we lived in huts because it cost too much to get houses out there." Grant K.
- "'paper, scissors, rock' is considered a high-tech game!" Cara K.
Your turn! Consider using some of the phrases below to get started if you can't think of some!
The quarantine was so long...
We had so much snow in 2019…
My brother’s tantrums are so extreme...
Her singing was so off-key…
My room is so messy…
I did so much homework once…
The summer was so hot…
The light was so bright…
My grandmother's casserole was so disgusting...
My brother/sister was so loud...
We were so bored...
Make up your own ideas if you have extra time—be ready to share your examples!