^^^ These posts are fantastic!

In implicit (or explicit) comparisons of more than two situations, one can be marked as superlative. So ‘good’ is grammatically positive, “better “ is comparative, and “best” is superlative — designating degrees of intensification. A phenomenon is “better” if it is more intensely good than some other phenomenon. And it cannot be better than “best”. Nothing is more perfect than “perfect” - or more “disgraceful” than “most disgraceful”. The use of superlatives is often exaggeration or hyperbole. But “good” can also be hyperbolic if the situation being described is really not very good. Some hyperbole is benign, some just intentional lies. If something is designated as “bad”, it can be intensified to “ the worst”, and if that is not strong enough then it can be called “a disaster”, with intended overstatement! Hyperbolic speech is usually more emotional and colorful than nonhyperbolic speech. And ultimate superlatives tend to be used more frequently by young people than by generally “more realistic” or “honest” older folks. Hyperbolic expressions lose intensity when they are repeated often. So “You’re the best!!” gets bleached to mean “You are good”. So “the best” has to be replaced by a newer, more intensified expression. “Topnotch!” may then be substituted for “great”; or “great” may take the place of “good”.

I used to notice that the college student age speakers in Germany often had a new word for “the best” almost every year. So hyperbolic expressions like “Prima!” became “Dufte!”, then “Toll!”, then “Super!”, etc., etc. Sometimes the most intense way to express the notion “good” is to choose its exact opposite “bad!”. So, “That’s “Bad”, man.” is for some English speakers a hyperbolic for “extremely good”.

And “unbelievable!!” as a hyperbolic expression often has very little to do with belief.

http://thesaurus.yourdictionary.com/fantastical

Languaging is fun. Or it can be manipulated as a loaded gun.