I was thinking about those sayings - those exaggerated expressions people sometimes use to emphasize how much they don't want to do something. - They say, "I'd rather..." [do some ridiculous thing that you would never really want to do] than to do [some other thing].
It came into my mind because I was listening to a You Tuber telling advice, or wisdom, and someone typed in the Comments, "I'd rather lick a freshly-tarred road than live by this advice."
Now there was one I had never heard before.
It reminded me of the time the Municipal League lobbyist told me cheerfully, "I'd rather chew barbed wire than listen to country music."
OK.
And gathering my thoughts for this little essay, I remembered sitting with a couple of school superintendents after dinner one night in the state capital - these guys were cousins, and they kind of teased each other by saying the other one's school wasn't very good, & making exaggerated, silly statements - to challenge each other.
It took me a minute to realize they were joking around, when they started that.
It was like "doing the dozens," which is an inner-city competition where two guys trade insults in front of an audience - it's sort of a contest of wit.
The one superintendent said an "I'd rather" - "I'd rather [do something-or-other] than work at your school."
And the other one came back with, "I'd rather sell used cars door-to-door than work at your school!"
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The Internet calls this type of expression
"I'd rather" jokes
or
"I'd rather" sayings
...and states that they are "a form of hyperbole, an intentional exaggeration which is used to emphasize an extreme dislike for a particular situation or activity."
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