Or are people just not understanding what the word "almost" means? It means "I'm using this unrealistic comparison to make a point." It doesn't generally mean

Or are people just not understanding what the word "almost" means? It means "I'm using this unrealistic comparison to make a point." It doesn't generally mean that though, in what I would think to be the popularly understood context of what you were saying, you were claiming they were very close, not that it was an unrealistic comparison of things far apart from one another. If you said "I would almost rather die than have my hand cut off", and seemed completely sincere about it, most people would think you were an idiot.