Thursday, February 03, 2011

What do you call a hyperbole wrapped in a hyperbole

On the culture blog VHCLE, Michael Benson writes that he's upset with advertising and advertisers who use hyperbole to promote their wares:

It seems the people who play more fast and loose with language than any other spectrum of society are those people called ‘advertisers.’ We don’t tend to pay much attention to advertisements, but they surround us. Some studies say as many as 3,000 ads a day bombard our senses.

...whoa, Michael, what studies? I realize that the article is an opinion / editorial and you are not bound to publish your sources but it sounds to me that you just wrapped a hyperbole around a hyperbole. What would you call that?

Taco Bell would probably call that delicious!