- Chuck Norris is so awesome he created fire by rubbbing two ice cubes together.
- Ghosts sit around the campfire and tell Chuck Norris stories.
- Chuck Norris died 20 years ago, Death just hasn't built up the courage to tell him yet.
Years passed and we all assumed this fad had died out. Until Dos Equis came out with a commercial wherein they showcased a character whose entire life seems to be nothing but a barrage of hyperbole:
- His blood smells like cologne.
- The pheromones he secretes effect people miles away… in a slight, but measurable way.
- He once punched a magician. That’s right, you heard me.
The commercials are punctuated with the fact that we get to see this man of intrigue. We get to see grainy footage of his youth doing outrageous feats of manliness and then we see him in present day, hair accented with a flash of grey. He seems to have aged with dignity and grace. And he is still the popular man in social scene dominated by people half his age. He is a man to be respected.
What some may not realize is that this whole vignette is not new. Back in 1996, Saturday Night Live came up with a skit where a character named Bill Brasky would be respected, feared and admired by peers in his business. The skits were simple in structure and execution. There would be a group of drunken business in suits and they each would go around stating fact after fact about Bill Brasky, each more exaggerated than the last.
I wonder what it is about us that finds comfort in hyperbole. We all have an uncle who caught a fish that was some extreme size but still managed to slip away at the end. Is it that we simply enjoy tall tales or are we trying to create modern day myths?
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