Lost in the superlatives

I read a Twitter bio this morning of a “best selling author.” Using the normal definition of best, one would conclude that this author has sold more books than any other author. Judging by the fact that I have never heard of this particular author I doubt that this is true.

One a related note, How can there be more than one best seller on the New York Times list?

I have had Seattle’s Best Coffee. It is very good coffee, but is it the best? Perhaps I am not sufficiently discriminating in my taste, but for me it tastes like every other dark roast coffee.

I have purchased products at Best Buy. Some times it is and some times it isn’t the best place to buy a particular product. But would you shop there if it was called Average Buy?

I have stayed in Best Western hotels from time to time but only when a better choice was not available. How ironic is that?

A search of “best” on Google yields 2.4 billion links. Do you think that this word is over used? 

I realize that language changes over time and that meanings of words can morph through different usage. There is room for creativity. But can we be a little more careful with superlatives?