Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Hyperbole In Top 10 Lists: The "...of All Time" Claim

Overly enthusiastic writers love to add gravitas to their lists by injecting the "...of All Time" claim. Sometimes, though it's just not called for.

To Wit:
"The Best Punk & Emo CDs of All Time."
Punk & Emo as musical forms have only existed for around 30 years. Human beings have kept written records for around 5,000 years. Don't you find such a grandiose proclamation about the importance of Punk & Emo in the grand sweep of human history a bit presumptious? Plus, I'll bet the list writer has never heard some of the old school Emo that came out of Ancient Mesopotamia back in the day...

Homework Assignment:
Refrain from using the "...of All Time" claim unless appropriate.

Correct use:
"The Top 10 World Events of All Time"

Incorrect use:
"The Top 10 Things I Did Yesterday Of All Time"

2 comments:

johnNokc said...

Add "A national treasure."

Barf.

David Grizzard said...

Hey, that's MY line!