The most memorable use of this device lies in the passages: “The teacher killed some time accusing the Yugoslav girl of masterminding a program of genocide [. ..] .” or “'I hate you,' he 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. Both of these songs downplay really serious things, like hatred and genocide, and reduce them to nothing more than an everyday part of the French classroom. This use of litote achieves an extremely fun effect and helps convey Sedaris' purpose beautifully. Unlike Barry, who includes so many hyperbolic statements in his essay — essentially conveying the same idea (men suck at cooking) — that they become boring by the third time you read one. Barry opens his essay with hyperbole: “Men are still basically scum when it comes to helping out in the kitchen.” He repeats this phrase halfway through the piece, obviously expressed differently, but it doesn't matter, it's not funny anymore. “I realize this is terrible” and “Most men are as useful in the kitchen as poorly trained Labrador retrievers,” 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 not to get tired of it? This overuse of the same type of hyperbolic statement makes me