By Kathy Groob – My friend and author, Dr. Mardy Grothe’s new book Neverisms started me thinking about the list of things never to do when you are running for public office.  Like never forget to send thank you notes to your donors, never print a mail piece or door hanger without a disclaimer, never show fear or anger, never hold fundraising events on holidays or Friday nights, never waste your time on voters who always vote in the opposite party primaries, never stop smiling, to name a few.

Sometimes the list of what not to do is just as important as what to do.  That’s why the new book Neverisims is great summer reading. Neverisms is a quotation lover’s guide to things you should never do, never say or never forget. This book is full of good advice for political candidates and just about everyone else as well.

Neverisms is an anthology of nearly 2,000 quotations that all begin with the word “Never.” They all fit into a category of human discourse that Willard R. Espy once described as “Dissuasive advice given with authority.” I’ve been fascinated by these kinds of cautionary warnings for many years, and I’m hoping you will enjoy learning more about them as well.

History is filled with strong attempts to discourage people from a certain practice or to dissuade them from a course of action. And many of them begin with the word never:

“Never judge a book by its cover.”

“Never swap horses in mid-stream.”

“Never look a gift horse in the mouth.”

“Never confuse movement with action.

“Never let ‘em see you sweat.”

Instead of recommending that people do something, sayings like these strongly urge people not to do—indeed, never to do—something. The precise term for these kinds of sayings is dehortation, the antonym of exhortation. If you’ve never heard of the word dehortation, you have a lot of company. It’s an obscure word that has never been a part of everyday usage. The same is true with its companion verb dehort, which the Oxford English Dictionary defines this way:

To use exhortation to dissuade from a course or purpose;

to advise or counsel against (an action, etc.).

Another word for these attempts at dissuasion is admonition, which has two separate meanings: (1) a gentle reproof, and (2) a cautionary warning. The first sense of the word shows up, for example, when a teacher admonishes a student for being careless or a boss admonishes an employee for being late to work. The second sense is captured in the following “usage note” from the editors of the American Heritage Dictionary:

Admonish implies the giving of advice or a warning so that a fault can be rectified or a danger avoided.

Admonition is also a perfectly acceptable term for any cautionary warning that is introduced by the word never, as in these proverbial sayings:

“Never send a boy to do a man’s job.”

“Never cross a bridge until you come to it.”

“Never make a mountain out of a molehill.”

“Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.”

Here’s the table of contents:

Chapter 1 -Never Go to a Doctor Whose Office Plants Have Died (Wit & Wordplay)

Chapter 2 -Never Let a Crisis Go to Waste (Words to Live By)

Chapter 3 – Never Give Advice Unless Asked (Advice)

Chapter 4 -Never Put Off Till Tomorrow What You Can Do Today (Classic Neverisms)

Chapter 5 -Never Underestimate the Power of a Woman (“Never Underestimate” Neverisms)

Chapter 6 -Never Trust a Computer You Can’t Lift (“Never Trust” Neverisms)

Chapter 7 – Never Give In. Never, Never, Never, Never! (Multiple Neverisms)

Chapter 8 — Never Persist in Trying to Set People Right (Human Relationships)

Chapter 9 – Never Approach a Woman From Behind (Sex, Love & Romance)

Chapter 10 –  Never Change Diapers in Mid-Stream (Marriage, Home & Family Life)

Chapter 11 – Never Mention a No-Hitter While It’s in Progress (Sports)

Chapter 12 – Never Get Caught in Bed with a Live Man or a Dead Woman (Politics & Government)

Chapter 13 -Never Coddle a Malcontent (Business & Management)

Chapter 14 -Never Have Your Dog Stuffed (Book, Song & Movie Titles)

Chapter 15 – Never Judge a Book by Its Movie (Stage & Screen)

Chapter 16- Never Answer an Anonymous Letter (Oxymoronic & Paradoxical Neverisms)

Chapter 17 -Never Cut What You Can Untie (Metaphorical Neverisms)

For more information, visit the Dr. Mardy website: http://www.drmardy.com/neverisms/neverisms.shtml