"grow" = to further

[Brian Hitchcock]

This is an extension of the long-standing practice in American business
contexts of misusing "grow" to mean 'enlarge' or 'increase' -- specifically,
'grow your business', which now yields over 3.5 million Google hits.

It's an instance of the type of language-mangling I refer to as
Manager-Speak.



Oddly enough, these millions of brilliant muddle-managers rarely speak of
'fertilize your business' (only two hits) or 'spread manure on your
business' (zero hits), although both those phrasings would be perfectly
consistent with the inept farming metaphor (and the latter, taken literally,
might be just as useful as many of the products and services promoted to
'grow your business.').



Brian Hitchcock - Technical Writer - Manhattan Beach, CA.

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org