tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811866763970314328.post6323432081037767992..comments2024-02-19T07:51:46.118-05:00Comments on Throw Grammar from the Train: "Growing a business" for (at least) 35 yearsJanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03173219179480606941noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811866763970314328.post-88682695723117931102014-08-14T01:40:37.449-04:002014-08-14T01:40:37.449-04:00I never thought "grow" meant "make ...I never thought "grow" meant "make larger." It might mean "cultivate"--hence, one might "grow corn" or even "grow a crystal." And it might mean "develop a new body part"--hence, one might "grow a beard" or even "grow a tumor" (although we usually think of such an involuntary case's being an instance of the body's growing something rather than of the person's growing it). But "make larger"? "Expand"? That doesn't really seem to be what "grow" means, so Bill Clinton's "grow the economy" always grated on my ears.Keith Brian Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14931134923769535815noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811866763970314328.post-66303017044102263172013-12-21T06:07:13.426-05:002013-12-21T06:07:13.426-05:00In answer to empty, Ngram shows both expressions b...In answer to empty, Ngram shows both expressions beginning to take off in the second half of the nineteenth century. The earliest reference I can find is in Thomas Brooksbank's 1854 translation of <a href="http://books.google.pl/books?id=PUlI0NkMYl0C&pg=PA185&dq=%22grew+wings%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=onC1UrLnCZSQhQfI94HoBA&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22grew%20wings%22&f=false" rel="nofollow">Dante's Inferno</a>, which includes the phrase "Our oars grew wings to speed our headstrong flight", a somewhat free translation of Dante's original "de’ remi facemmo ali".<br /><br /><a href="http://books.google.pl/books?id=nQUqAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA64&dq=%22grew+a+beard%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=4nS1Up7ANYfwhQegxICYAw&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22grew%20a%20beard%22&f=false" rel="nofollow">The Book of Ballads</a>, by Sir Theodore Martin, William Edmondstoune Aytoun, Alfred Crowquill and published in 1804, has these lines:<br /><br />"Then he hired an airy garret Near her dwelling-place ; Grew a beard of fiercest carrot, Never washed his face" <br /><br />All at Google Books.Warsaw Willhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15373568589613033674noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811866763970314328.post-34508309248934642342013-12-21T02:42:28.625-05:002013-12-21T02:42:28.625-05:00It bothers me when I hear someone say something li...It bothers me when I hear someone say something like, "It grows the brand." Seems like trendy, slick, corporate talk, and it just doesn't sound right at all. Not only is the verb transitive, but no one is even taking direct responsibility for the growing!<br /><br />If we're going to move away from the realm of something growing on its own, someone else should at least be there to do the growing. We shouldn't just leave it with an advertising strategy for a babysitter. That's no way to raise a brand! ;D Bryan Whitehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01607046468663026271noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811866763970314328.post-13335500602660063072013-12-20T19:54:49.083-05:002013-12-20T19:54:49.083-05:00When did it become linguistically possible to grow...When did it become linguistically possible to grow wings, or a beard?emptyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04513102801380602436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8811866763970314328.post-46631388533562207792013-12-20T19:25:42.675-05:002013-12-20T19:25:42.675-05:00Chicken growing is perhaps an important intermedia...<i>Chicken growing</i> is perhaps an important intermediate stage: traditionally only plants were grown, transitively, but after the animals, the abstractions were an easy step. John Cowanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11452247999156925669noreply@blogger.com