big numbers
August 6, 2009
Do you have a default number for over-the-top exaggeration?
As in…
- Sorry I’m late, but there were 14 people in line ahead of me at Target.
- If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you 10,000 times—don’t exaggerate!
- We’ve been friends for, like, a bajillion years.
I wasn’t done filling out my reimbursement request form today, but asked a potential signer for his approving signature as he walked by. “Sure, as long as you don’t ask for $1,600 more after I walk away,” he said jokingly.
After this, while sorting 55 million tons of mail, I pondered the use of ridiculous numbers. I think my dad’s number is 16, and my friend Veronique’s might be 10,000. (Can anyone verify?) I’m not sure what my big number is, but I’ll be listening for it.
Advertisement
16 Comments
leave one →
mine is 75 with variable zeros after it.
I like to change mine to keep people guessing.
Like, seventeen million times every day.
I use “grillion,” which is made up but sounds like an awful lot. I like the way it rolls off the tongue.
fortylevendozen.
8 billion. I don’t know why I started using that.
I like to make up very specific random numbers. 72 comes up a lot.
me too! …strange…
mine is usually random, too, and sometimes includes fractions of numbers. I’m not really sure where that came from.
gigabajillion
55 million tons sounds about right for you, Jess.
I never thought I was hugely exaggeratory, but maybe I am. I think I like number 25 right now which doesn’t seem like a whole lot unless we’re talking about the number of family-sized bags of M & M’s I ate this morning or the number of mosquitoes on someone‘s forehead.
I like using the phrase “17 months pregnant” to describe someone who’s hugely pregnant without having to be accountable for knowing exactly how many months along they are…
my number is 12 or 1200 or 12,000. it always has a 1 and a 2.
Definitely 900. Or 9,000. Or if it’s really a big something-or-other, 9 million. Seems to me 9 million is a little more believable than 10 million. Not sure why. : )
42