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Joined: Aug 2005
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stranger
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stranger
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Today, Anu states that students want to "grow their vocabulary." In business school, it was frequently said, "grow your business." To my ear, you can grow your garden, but you make your vocabulary, or business, grow. What is correct?
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Joined: Sep 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Welcome gefgef. Yours is an opinion quite a lot of people share. However, others think there is no categorical distinction that we can make between those examples of business and garden so both forms should be fair game. Is it just what one is raised to recognise, perhaps? And is there any real barrier to comprehension?
Personally although it sounded uncomfortable the first few times I heard it, I now recognise the terms of reference being implied – it’s frequently drawing attention to the fact that there is a meta-business as well as the basic units of trade - and my ear doesn’t ‘stumble’ over it any more.
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Joined: Dec 2000
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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,055 |
I think part of the problem is not just recognition, but the fact that many people associate growth with something that occurs naturally or at least not as a direct result of single actions. Growing seems to be more of an overall side effect. So you eat food to grow stronger, but don't necessarily grow stronger from/by eating food; or you engage in marketing campaigns which will make your business grow, but you don't grow your business with marketing campaigns. And growing vocab sounds pretty mystical compared to 'increasing' or 'extending', but it certainly provokes the notion that our vocabulary is something to be nurtured and tended to, which, as a biological metaphor, isn't so bad, I guess. And it is a complicated process which is not just a case of adding new words and usages - so it has to be at least as applicable as growing businesses.
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Joined: Mar 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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*I think it's merely a second-cousin to psycho-babble: somebody thinks up some sort of catch-phrase designed to stick in peoples' minds; very akin to advertising, or at least public relations, and in this particular instance quite probably implying greed most of the time--and monetary greed makes me VERY angry. So I heartily dislike the phrase, both for its fakiness and implication. [/curmudgeonly rant]
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
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The Orwellian world of business motivational propaganda is awash in psychobabble. I think it's perversely funny that a sphere so known for its conservatism should adopt such flaky methods.
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Joined: Aug 2005
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Since we're voicing personal tastes, I like the metaphor of growing one's business. Being self-employed and currently growing my business, it has special resonance for me. Il faut cultiver notre langue.
And while we're on it I also like the term psychobabble, finding it occassionally useful and liking its sound. Fakiness is a great neologism that has not found its groove yet: i.e., less than 1K ghits.
[Corrected typo.]
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Joined: Jun 2002
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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well, I like the word grow.
heh.®
formerly known as etaoin...
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Joined: Aug 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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well, I like the word grow
Me, too. It's like hair - it just grows on you...
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Hi zmjezhd, welcome aboard. I sent you a personal message. You have to click on "Check Private" at the top of the page to get it. EDIT: Oops, I forgot to add this... I like the expression "growing a vocabulary" or "growing a business" too. An iteresting, and very à propos to our discussion, definition I found at Merriam-Webster online... 4 a : to pass into a condition : BECOME <grew pale> b : to have an increasing influence <habit grows on a person> c : to become increasingly acceptable or attractive <didn't like it at first, but it grew on him>You know it's gonna grow on you Jackie...it is written 
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Joined: Aug 2005
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Thank you, belMarduk, I have corrected the mistake. zmjezhd.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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