Hyperbole (n): the use of exaggeration as a rhetorical device or figure of speech. It may be used to evoke strong feelings or to create a strong impression, but is not meant to be taken literally.

Sometimes people use “hyperbole” to make their point. Like when people say, “Oh my god, that was the best weekend ever,” it’s probably hyperbole because the best weekend of your life happens the first time you go to Disneyland and from then on it’s one sad spiral into mid-life crisis and depression.

On the other hand, sometimes superlative statements are NOT hyperbole, like when people tell me that my seven layer dip is “literally the best thing I’ve ever eaten in my entire life and probably in previously lives as well.” That is just the truth and is in no way an exaggeration. On a similar note, this next video is of the BEST penalty kick ever to be performed on live television, no hyperbole implied, seriously.