Quote: “WINDCHILL 35 BELOW: CHICAGO.” Drudge Report.
Figure of Speech: hyperbole (hie-PER-bo-lee), the hype figure. From the Greek, meaning “excess.”
Figaro is on an amazing, spectacular exaggeration kick. His last entry had to do with the blowup label called the auxesis. Today he tackles the hyperbole, which has been frostbiting people throughout the country.
Although the wind chill trumpeted by meteorologists has been debunked by science, and means little in real life anyway, it continues to make terrific news.
What’s the difference between auxesis and hyperbole? An auxesis consists of a single word or phrase used as a label — calling an abandoned trailer in Iraq a “weapon of mass destruction,” for instance. Hyperbole is a more general term. It can encompass whole arguments, or bogus science.
Snappy Answer: “Wind Discovered in Chicago. Meteorologists Panic.”