Never?

“Both your friend and your enemy think you will never die.”

– An Old Irish Proverb

“This team will never lose again.”

• Shoresy, the title character in the Hulu offbeat comedy of the same name

I can’t pull a clip from Shoresy, no matter how much I want to seein’s how The Diff is still a family-oriented-ish business blog. But, if you don’t mind very spicy content and rough language and funny, well-developed characters, the show is irreverent but hilarious. Even if you just put “shoresy never lose again” in The Goog, you’ll get my point.

“You have a point, Heston?” you may be asking?

I shoresy do. (See what I did there? Pretty slick, huh?)

Never, always, everyone, and nobody are words we should never use and always avoid, even if everyone or nobody uses them.

Check out the epitome of hyperbole clip from Brian Regan.

Never should be replaced with sometimes. Always with often. Everyone = many people. Nobody = few people.

Absolutes are rarely absolute. And when we speak in absolutes, we drive wedges instead of bringing people together. We diminish our experience and intelligence. We make our enemies hope we never die and our friends more comfortable when we finally do.

Leave room for collaboration, and it will break out and spread. And that’s often a good thing, sometimes a powerful thing. For many people. And rarely for only a few people.