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Exaggeration: why we make a mountain out of a molehill
In French, we have an expression to describe a situation where someone makes too much of a minor issue: “C’est une tempête dans un verre d’eau.” It’s a storm in a glass of water. Funnily enough, British people talk about a storm in a teacup, and American people talk about a tempest in a teapot. Dutch people say: “Van een mug een olifant maken.” Turning a mosquito into an elephant. In Turkish: “Pireyi deve yapmak.” Making a camel out of a flea. It’s fair to say exaggeration is pretty universal. But why?
The many faces of exaggeration
Overreacting, catastrophizing, magnification, maximizing, overplaying, overblowing… We have many words for exaggeration. However, all forms of exaggeration mostly fall under three categories.
Cognitive distortions. These unconscious mental processes cause people to perceive reality inaccurately. Distorted thinking patterns can lead to overestimation (exaggerating the likelihood of an event) or catastrophizing (exaggerating the importance of an event). While most people experience cognitive distortions, exaggeration as a form of cognitive distortion is most common in emotionally-charged situations, where it may help cope with anxiety by giving the individual an inflated sense of control. For instance: “I was always top of my class in literature, I don’t need to prepare for this writing competition” (overestimation) or “Everyone thought my presentation was terrible, I will never gain the respect of my teammates, and I will never get a promotion” (catastrophizing).
Manipulation. Exaggeration can also be a more conscious process. At a young age, children start amplifying achievements and obstacles in order to seek attention. “Exaggerating what one feels by magnifying the emotional expression: this is the ploy used by the six-year-old who dramatically twists her face into a pathetic frown, lips quivering, as she runs to complain to her mother about being teased,” writes Daniel Goleman in his book Emotional Intelligence. Other forms of manipulation such as bragging and boasting are common at all ages to seek attention. When used to “manipulate” someone, exaggeration is not necessarily intended to hurt the other party. For instance, many friends use flattery and inflated praise among themselves as a form of bonding, and adults tend to praise children to increase their self-esteem (which may backfire but is rarely done with bad intentions).
Pathology. Finally, exaggeration can be caused by mental disorders and pathologies. Exaggerated all-or-nothing thinking is extremely common in depression. Narcissists display a grandiose sense of self-importance. And catastrophizing is associated with paranoid behavior.
While the pathological forms of exaggeration require professional support to regulate, exaggeration caused by cognitive distortions or manipulative behaviors can be managed with a conscious effort.
Exaggeration is such a natural behavior, it can be hard to catch yourself or others doing it. While most exaggeration doesn’t lead to bad outcomes, it’s good practice to try and be more aware of it and to consciously try to make our statements as objective as possible. Here are five ways you can spot and manage exaggeration.
Be careful with adverbs and qualifiers. Whenever you hear yourself or someone else say “incredibly” or “the best” or similar qualifiers, ask yourself: do these add value to the statement? Are they a true reflection of reality? It’s much harder to exaggerate when forcing ourselves to cut the fluff.
Consider more realistic synonyms. Are you “starving” or just “hungry”? Are you “exhausted” or just tired? Is the challenge you are facing “impossible” or just “difficult”? Swapping words can make your statements closer to reality. Added bonus: when you do think a task is impossible, people will tend to take your warning more seriously.
Be comfortable with vulnerability. It’s okay to admit we don’t know or to say we don’t have anything of value to add to a conversation. Instead of trying to impress your interlocutor, focus on building an authentic connection. This will create a virtuous circle by avoiding a ping-pong game of exaggeration, where each person tries to top what the other said.
Correct yourself. Even if you make a conscious effort to not exaggerate, you will sometimes catch yourself embellishing a story or bragging about an accomplishment. This Redditor gives a good example: “That book was so amazing I read it in two days… No, actually, it took more like two weeks, but I was so immersed and enjoyed it so much, the time flew by.”
Ponder why you exaggerated. Even if you sometimes exaggerate, it’s good practice to reflect on the reason why you did it. Maybe you exaggerated your skill levels with your boss because of a lack of self-esteem, or you gave inflated praise to a friend to make them feel better.
Self-reflection is not about shame or guilt: don’t be judgemental, just kindly consider the reasons behind your reaction. Sometimes, you will realize it was one of the rare times exaggerations may have been helpful. Either way, it will make it easier to manage in the future.
Modified from source
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Example: The text only mentions Brazilian food. False
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Words Ending in ‘age’
Practice the pronunciation of the following nouns:
Emphasizing & Exaggerating
Useful expressions to emphasize opinions and ideas:
( ) Minced beef pie, mashed potato, and a parsley sauce known as liquor.
( ) A chunky snack consisting of a lump of bread stuffed with curried meat and vegetables.
( ) Guinea pig meat.
( ) A cube of sponge cake coated in chocolate and dried coconut.
( ) A cold summer soup, usually consisting of yoghurt, oil, water and various vegetables such as cucumber and garlic
( ) A dense bread roll in the shape of a ring, made by boiling dough and then baking it.
( ) Grilled chicken marinated in a spicy sauce.
( ) A National vegetarian dish consisting of a mix of pasta-tomato sauce-lentils-rice-onion and chickpeas.
(8) Minced beef pie, mashed potato, and a parsley sauce known as liquor.
(3) A chunky snack consisting of a lump of bread stuffed with curried meat and vegetables.
(2) Guinea pig meat.
(7) A cube of sponge cake coated in chocolate and dried coconut.
(4) A cold summer soup, usually consisting of yoghurt, oil, water and various vegetables such as cucumber and garlic
(1) A dense bread roll in the shape of a ring, made by boiling dough and then baking it.
(6) Grilled chicken marinated in a spicy sauce.
(5) A National vegetarian dish consisting of a mix of pasta-tomato sauce-lentils-rice-onion and chickpeas.
Example: The best restaurant I’ve been to is a small restaurant in Goias. Generally speaking, it is…
Example: Mean it > Mean it as
Example: When I said I loved him I meant it as platonic love.
Example: very / Dave / to / criticism / doesn’t be / open / seem / to > Dave doesn’t seem to be very open to criticism.
Why you always take what he says for heart?
I mean what I say last night.
Euclides mean that he said as a serious statement, not a joke.
If things get loud, just walks away from the debate.
It’s hard to admit this, but I think you have valid point.
Why do you always take what he says to heart?
I meant what I said last night.
Euclides meant what he said as a serious statement, not a joke.
If things get loud, just walk away from the debate.
It’s hard to admit this, but I think you have a valid point.