[mettamage]

Makes sense.

> But to my mind it isn’t even hyperbole. It’s just an expression saying “I am on my guard now”.

I'm Dutch, so English is a second language. I started at 7.

To me it comes across as hyperbole or something literal. Maybe different for native English speakers. Though I haven't heard my American family in law using it. And they say, to take some inspiration from you, all kinds of colorful things and I'd expect them to say stuff like this.

I don't live in the US with my wife though, so maybe I didn't have enough interactions with them. I will ask her.