The Good, the Bad and the Exaggerated.“The report of my death was an exaggeration.”

The Good, the Bad and the Exaggerated in Michael Moore's New Film, 'Capitalism: A Love Story'
Michael Moore's movie, Capitalism: A Love Story, doesn't pull any punches in its depiction of capitalism as the monster that is destroying America. Moore's villains range from Wall Street bankers to Wal-Mart to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, while capitalism's victims include those who are losing their jobs, their houses and, in some cases, their faith in a system that is supposed to reward hard work and playing by the rules. Knowledge@Wharton asked Kent Smetters, a professor of insurance and risk management at Wharton who describes himself as "generally right of center," to review Capitalism: A Love Story.
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/2358.cfm



The 19th Century writer Mark Twain once famously told a newspaper journalist: "The report of my death was an exaggeration," following unfounded media speculation that the author had suffered a fatal illness.

One amusing story about Mark Twain involves his playful way of handling rumors about his death. In 1897, while Twain was in London, a rumor spread in the United States that he had passed away. A journalist even reached out to confirm the news. Twain, never missing a chance for wit, responded with his famous line:

“The report of my death was an exaggeration.”

What makes the story even funnier is that the confusion apparently stemmed from the illness of his cousin, who was indeed quite sick at the time.

exaggeration

/ɪɡˌzadʒəˈreɪʃn,ɛɡˌzadʒəˈreɪʃn/

noun

1. a statement that represents something as better or worse than it really is.

   "it would be an exaggeration to say I had morning sickness, but I did feel queasy"

   Similar:

   overstatement

   overemphasis

   magnification

   amplification

   aggrandizement

   overplaying

   dramatization

   overdramatization

   enhancement

   elaboration

   over-elaboration

   embellishment

   over-embellishment

   embroidery

   hyperbole

   overkill

   gilding the lily

   purple prose

   puffery

   • the action of making exaggerations.

     "he was prone to exaggeration"

exaggerate
v., -at·ed, -at·ing, -ates. v.tr.

1. To represent as greater than is actually the case; overstate: exaggerate the size of the enemy force; exaggerated his own role in the episode.
2. To enlarge or increase to an abnormal degree: thick lenses that exaggerated the size of her eyes.

v.intr.

To make overstatements.

[Latin exaggerāre, exaggerāt-, to heap up, magnify : ex-, intensive pref.; see ex- + aggerāre, to pile up (from agger, pile , from aggerere, to bring to : ad-, ad- + gerere, to bring).]

exaggeratedly ex·ag'ger·at'ed·ly adv.
exaggeration ex·ag'ger·a'tion n.
exaggerative ex·ag'ger·a'tive or ex·ag'ger·a·to'ry (-ə-tôr'ē, -tōr'ē) adj.
exaggerator ex·ag'ger·a'tor n.

SYNONYMS exaggerate, inflate, magnify, overstate. These verbs mean to represent something as being larger or greater than it actually is: exaggerated the size of the fish I caught; inflated his own importance; magnifying her part in their success; overstated his income on the loan application.
ANTONYM minimize