Pain in the English
Pain in the English

Unpacking English, Bit by Bit

A community for questioning, nitpicking, and debating the quirks and rules of the English language.

Pain in the English
Pain in the English

Unpacking English, Bit by Bit

A community for questioning, nitpicking, and debating the quirks and rules of the English language.

Username

R Smith

Member Since

February 14, 2012

Total number of comments

1

Total number of votes received

8

Bio

Latest Comments

Over exaggeration

  • February 14, 2012, 5:26am

Neither under-exaggerate or over-exaggerate are valid. Exaggerate basically means to make an overstatement. Obviously you cannot under-overstate something or over-overstate something. This is nonsense. The problem stems from the ignorance of the true definition of the word and hearing bad English repeated by peers and/or members of the media.

There are no degrees of exaggeration required. The light switch is either on or off. It is not over or under-switched on.