Winner's Dinners

Michael Winner writes a regular restaurant review for the Sunday Times. Entitled “Winner’s Dinners” he is famous for being critical about the poor standard of service and low quality of food and its presentation.

The following extracts from a review of 12.12.2004 are examples of critical hyperbole and bear examination for their use of similes, similes and adjectival phrases.

“This is the tackiest, most ridiculous hotel with an appallingly run restaurant serving (“serve” is an inaccurate use of the word) the worst imaginable fodder.”

“The banisters were painted in white gloss and ingrained with dirt. The walls were tired. There was a hook where a picture once hung, with horrid marks where the picture had been. There was an odd smell.
The suite comprised the two most garish rooms I’ve ever been in. The lounge had a sofa, a couple of small chairs, a tiny, low round table and a dead plant. It was largely empty.”

“The Crabwall bread was warm but tasted like it was old and heated up. After one small mouthful I left it.”

“ A freebie was announced as ‘chicken and tarragon rillete’ It had no discernible taste and a woolly texture.
My ‘presetorine’ first course was like a dreary slice of meat pie at a catered lunch for 800 people. Accompanying it were some tired leaves and a sun-dried tomato, which tasted like a pickle gone wrong.
The main course ‘pan roast loin of pork, boulangere potatoes, tomato Provençal, crackling, port jus’ was a slab of hard, atrocious pork, nothing crackling anywhere near it, with soggy potatoes. I left almost all of it.”

“The [dessert] plate was decorated like a touring version of Waitrose Food Illustrated. It tasted as if it came from a newsagent’s fridge.”

“[Adrian] provided me with the worst food I’ve had in decades.”

In Rhetoric the term for exaggeration is “Hyperbole”

Give examples of the most probable exaggerations from this piece.

Identify and explain the effect of his
• superlatives
• similes
Explain the effect of his choice of
• adjectives eg ‘woolly’, ‘tired’, ‘dreary’, 'discernable'
• the words ‘800’, ‘slab’, ‘like a touring version’, ‘newsagent’s fridge’

In your view, is this example of hyperbole effective in describing a dreadful meal or does the author lose your sympathy because he exaggerates?

Does humour help to gain your sympathy?