Listen to the author reading this blog post.
by Liz Walter
“If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a million times: don’t exaggerate!” So goes the old joke. In general, we disapprove of people who exaggerate, that is, make something seem more extreme than it really is. Today’s post looks at some of the many ways we have of describing this behaviour.
When people tell anecdotes, they sometimes add details that aren’t quite true in order to make the story more interesting or entertaining. We can say that they embellish or embroider their stories, or that they exaggerate for effect:
Each time she told the story of her escape, she embellished it a little more.
I suspected that the facts had been embroidered a little.
Of course we weren’t literally starving – I was exaggerating for effect.
If someone tries to make something sound much more exciting than it really is, we could say that they sensationalize or overdramatize it:
We were shocked by how journalists sensationalized the story.
I don’t want to overdramatize the situation.
They might also overstate the importance or seriousness of something or inflate a figure to make it larger than it really is:
It’s impossible to overstate the significance of this new research.
They accused the company of inflating figures to justify their high prices.
If someone lays it on (a bit) thick, or lays it on with a trowel, they exaggerate something they are trying to express, often in a way that is not sincere:
She only had a mild infection, but she was laying it on thick, moaning and insisting she couldn’t get up.
He laid the flattery on with a trowel.
There are several nice phrases we use for exaggerating problems. For instance, we can say that someone is blowing something out of (all) proportion or, in a nice visual image, making a mountain out of a molehill. In American English, you might accuse someone of making a federal case out of something:
She was slightly rude, but don’t blow it out of proportion.
We can easily fix the printer. Stop making a mountain out of a molehill!
I broke one glass, and she decided to make a federal case out of it.
Someone who exaggerates problems in this way, or who makes a lot of fuss about them, might informally be called a drama queen. Note that this term can be used for boys and men as well as girls and women!
It’s only a tiny cut on your finger – don’t be such a drama queen!
Some might say that we should all stop exaggerating and stick to the facts, but perhaps the world would be a slightly more boring place if we did. What do you think?