exist for no other reason than to decorate speech. These are devices of hyperbole; they take an ongoing argument and lend it wit and color Yoruba Proverbs - Page 2 by Oyekan Owomoyela - 2005 - 502 pages Limited preview - About this book
...own and an argument that is virtually self-sufficient. On the other hand, the formulaic intensifiers exist for no other reason than to decorate speech....take an ongoing argument and lend it wit and color. As noted, these conventional exaggerations are often called proverbial, but they are like proverbs...