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Reg: - I just finished my homework. Spending the rest of the day playing in the garden.

Mitch (who is not finished with homework): - I hate you!

hate (verb): 1. to feel extreme enmity toward; 2. to have a strong aversion to, find very distasteful.

I think definitions 1 and 2 do not fit what Mitch feels because, to the contrary, Mitch loves Reg.

I'm wondering if, for native speakers, the word 'hate' can mean something that Merriam Webster does not support.

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Mitch was being ironic. – Zairja Sep 5 '12 at 13:59
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Mitch was joshing Reg. – Andrew Leach Sep 5 '12 at 14:07
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@Zairja Well, I wouldn't say "ironic", but more like "exaggerating". He doesn't really hate his -- brother? friend? -- but he's complaining that Reg is free to play while he still has to work. Hyperbole, perhaps. – Jay Sep 5 '12 at 14:15
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No, I was not being ironic. Reg is an ass. – Mitch Sep 5 '12 at 14:32
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This sort of poetic exaggeration is hardly unusual. People often say, "This box weighs a ton!" when the actual weight may be more like forty pounds, they're just saying that it's too heavy for them to manage. Or "I'm dying of thirst!" when they simply mean that they are thirsty, and death from dehydration is not really imminent. Etc. – Jay Sep 5 '12 at 17:40
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closed as not constructive by tchrist, MετάEd, Mitch, FumbleFingers, Mark Beadles Sep 5 '12 at 15:32

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