The most memorable use of this device lies in the passages: "The professor killed some time by accusing the Yugoslav girl of having orchestrated a program of genocide [...].” or “I hate you,” she said to me one afternoon. His English was impeccable. “I really, really hate you.” Call me sensitive, but I couldn't help but take it personally. These two extracts minimize very serious things, hatred and genocide, and reduce them to a simple element of everyday French classes. This use of understatement produces an extremely humorous effect and helps convey Sedaris's purpose beautifully. Unlike Barry, who includes so many hyperbolic statements in his essay - all of which essentially convey the same idea (men are terrible at cooking) - that they become tiresome by the third time you read one. Barry opens his essay with hyperbole: “Men are still basically scum when it comes to helping in the kitchen. » He repeats this sentence in the middle of the song, phrased differently of course, but whatever, it's no longer funny. “I realize it's horrible” and “Most men make themselves as useful in the kitchen as poorly trained Labradors” both convey the same idea that the first two hyperbolic statements were trying to convey. Why would an author write something six different ways and expect us to never get tired of it? This overuse of the same type of hyperbolic statement makes me