I’ve noticed over the years that I am quite a literal person and tend to take people at their word. As a child, I was slightly bewildered when an adult would say, ‘If you do that again, I’ll kill you!’. For some reason, I heard this particular comment often. I guess that is a reflection of my conduct. These remarks had little effect on me. I was sure that repeating the behaviour would not result in my death. So far, I have been proven right.
Hyperbole such as, ‘If you do that again, I’ll kill you!” is common. It is an exaggeration made for effect and not intended to be taken seriously. These remarks are a part of most people’s language. If you listen out for them, you will hear others and yourself using them regularly.
The Purpose of Speaking
I don’t believe using hyperbole when public speaking or presenting is beneficial. Indeed, I think it is damaging. To understand why we must go back to the purpose of a good speech. A good speech changes attitudes leading to a change in behaviour. Changing people’s behaviour can change the world.
Therefore the purpose of a speech is to persuade. To do this, one must combine fact with reason. Some listeners may change their minds if you present an audience with facts, logical analysis and a persuasive argument.
What happens when you add hyperbole?
If you colour your facts with hyperbole, you ask your audience to distinguish between these exaggerations and the points you present around them.
If you say, ‘We bend over backwards for our clients!’ followed by, ‘95% of our customers, when surveyed, say they are delighted!’ You ask your audience to recognise the first as an exaggeration for effect and the second as a factual statistic.
Yes, your audience will be able to comprehend that difference. However, would it not be more powerful to say, ‘We believe we should do everything we can to gain our customer’s trust and approval. I am pleased to announce that 95% of customers, when surveyed, said they were completely satisfied with our service.”
Removing exaggeration makes the words more powerful. Both exchanges start with opinion, but the second is grounded in fact or a reasonable belief. This shift makes the words more influential.
Great Speeches
I have analysed a few hundred speeches. The prose often includes many great linguistic techniques such as imagery, quotes and alliteration. However, none contain hyperbole. The omission of exaggeration does not appear to have changed over the generations. The following examples span well over one hundred and fifty years, but all omit exaggeration.
Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address 1863
This short address is straightforward. The language is excellent. However, Lincoln does not divert from facts and his surrounding opinions.
There is a clever use of the ‘rule of three’s, for example, ‘But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground’ and ‘government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.’
However, there is little imagery and no hyperbole or exaggeration. The opposite is true, ‘the world will little note…’ was no doubt sincere, but the opposite turned out to be true. The world took note. Indeed Martin Luther King was to refer to it exactly one hundred years later.
Martin Luther King Jr I have a dream in 1963
A decade after Lincoln stood in the fields of Gettysburg, Martin Luther King climbed the steps of the memorial named after him. It is hardly surprising that King started his speech by paying tribute to the great man.
The following words, including the iconic line, ‘I have a dream,’ were to become one of the most recognised and debated speeches of all time. The vivid imagery of different ethnic groups playing together was to help bring a profound change to America, one that is still going on to this day.
Given the highly charged atmosphere and the need to galvanise his audience and the nations watching worldwide, it must have been tempting to include hyperbole. Yet he does not do so. His reasoning is sound, and the images he invokes are genuine and plausible.
Exaggeration would have weakened the message, perhaps allowing criticism from those who disagreed. King gives us a considered and objective view of the current situation and then provides ways forward. It is the classic, here is the problem, and here is the solution speech.
Barack Obama‘s victory speech in 2009
Obama’s address to the nation on that ‘autumn’ night in Chicago was a masterclass of both delivery and writing. King pays tribute to Lincoln and King in the sixteen minutes he speaks.
He incorporates fantastic imagery, poetic sentences, anecdotes, humour, and quotes. Obama uses every technique available within those two thousand words. Yet, there is no hyperbole or exaggeration at all.
Good speech writers know that exaggeration does not add to the power of the argument. Obama’s speech shows us how influential words can be without unnecessary claims or rhetoric.
Conclusion
Hyperbole is harmless. It rarely offends and occasionally can illuminate an idea or create much-needed humour. However, imagery will do the same. There are other ways to make an audience laugh.
I have searched for an example of suitable hyperbole in action but can honestly say I have not found it. Build your speeches on the formula; fact plus opinion equals persuasion. Stick to that, and you can help change the world.