[lightyrs]

Hyperbole is what's known as a "rhetorical device" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhetorical_device) — a technique that an author or speaker uses to convey to the listener or reader a meaning with the goal of persuading him or her towards considering a topic from a different perspective, using sentences designed to encourage or provoke a rational argument from an emotional display of a given perspective or action.