Words I'd Like To Reclaim: Grow

Grow, damnit!

The boat sailed long ago on this one, I know. But this morning when I overheard someone recommend that the current government work harder to grow down the deficit, my husband had to physically restrain me.

Grow describes flowers in spring, seedlings, trees. Add absence, and grow makes hearts more fond. Grow up, grow old, grow corn, grow hair in weird places, but for goodness' sake stop growing your business.

I remember the first time I saw grow used as a transitive verb. I was working in a pharmacy and was invited to attend a seminar in which I would learn to grow my business. I called the company and offered my services as an editor, but it was like closing the barn door after the horses had wandered off. It was 1993 and Bill Clinton had already destroyed grow by making grow the economy his presidential banner.

When it comes to living organisms, growing is a pretty heady thing. But a business? An economy? There is no faster way of stripping the magic from grow than slapping it in front of something that's dead.

Increase your business, expand your economy, but for the sake of all that's green and good, leave grow in the nursery where it belongs.