He didn't threaten anyone's children. He threatened children as a concept in order to shock. Is the difference between shouting at someone that you are going to

He didn't threaten anyone's children. He threatened children as a concept in order to shock. Is the difference between shouting at someone that you are going to kill them and shouting that you could kill someone. The first is a specific threat, the second is the sort of thing that is said after a bad day at work. If you took everyone seriously when they threatened non-specific murder, you would have to jail everyone who makes jokes about how many points you get for running over different kinds of pedestrians while driving, which at least in the UK seems to be around half of all drivers.