Hyperbole, Overstatement and Catastrophising 3

Obscene earrings

Catastrophising - predicting dire consequences and generally screaming before you're hurt.

All women hate their bodies: Some women think they’re a bit overweight.

We’re living in a police state: I’m afraid that if the government keeps chipping away at our civil liberties we’ll end up in a police state.

All you need is confidence: It's a good idea to have some confidence. It's also a good idea to have foresight, plans, training, experience...

There are two holy and beautiful things which modern life destroys. They are Privacy and Leisure. (As somebody said in 1888.)

PEOPLE LIKE TO SAY THAT THINGS ARE "OBSCENE"
Toddler on the train, both ears pierced. How obscene.
An obscene amount of water is lost through leaking pipes.
I've just read that Thatcher saved football in this country. Everyone's entitled to their opinion but that's an obscene claim. (Tony Barrett/‏@TonyBarretTimes, April 2013)

THEY GET REALLY UPSET ABOUT MINOR MISTAKES IN ENGLISH
Gone are the virtues of plain speaking, common sense and being a responsible decent human being. (Commenter on Middle Class Handbook complaining about phrases like “big up” and “broad brush”.)

If you say "pacific" instead of "specific", I hope you drown in the specific ocean. (@kaydazz )

Woman on telly just said 'less' when she meant 'fewer'. That's my whole day ruined already. (@williamstafford)

When people confuse your/you're, where/were, they're/their/there and which/witch, I want to smash a dictionary around their face. (jessica grinsted @grinstyyy)

The recent emergence of 'yourself' as the pseudo-formal form of "you" makes me want to set myself on fire. (Dan Snow)

English has died because people write “alot” for “a lot” or can’t tell the difference between younger and youngest. (Gene Weinstein)

AND THEY GET UTTERLY HYSTERICAL ABOUT… FONTS?

Courier New makes me crazed. It should be banned from fonts everywhere. (@kaitnolan)

I'd go as far to say that anyone using Comic Sans for any purpose whatsoever should be shot. (Twitter)

Join the campaign to ban Comic Sans! (bancomicsans.com)

Comic Sans does have a use: rather like Dan Brown books or baseball hats with beercans attached, it marks the user out as someone to be avoided. (Tim Footman, Bangkok/London, via the BBC)

Why must the BBC continue to give this font the oxygen of publicity? Can't we just let it wither away? (Mark Scott, Basingstoke, via the BBC)

Parisians campaign for the removal of a subway sign - because it's in Comic Sans. (@pietercolpaert)

More overstatement here.