I don't have time right now to engage in this interesting discussion--I
just wanted to add some grist to the mill. Recall Bill Clinton's
introduction of 'grow the economy'. Grow already had a transtive sense,
of course, but it had not been applied to abstractions. So this usage
also stretched the usual complementation privileges of the verb. 

Have fun!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Johanna Rubba   Associate Professor, Linguistics 
English Department, California Polytechnic State University
One Grand Avenue  • San Luis Obispo, CA 93407 
Tel. (805)-756-2184  •  Fax: (805)-756-6374 • Dept. Phone.  756-2596
• E-mail: [log in to unmask] •      Home page: http://www.cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba
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