European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 15, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Clinton and Bush grow americans political speech gov. Bill Clinton and president Bush did t exactly grow closer during the recent presidential Campaign. William Safire on language during the late political unpleasantness gov. Bill Clinton promised to Quot grow the Economy Quot president Bush derided this Promise not on the basis of its syntactical formulation but in regard to its object he accused his opponent of intending to Quot grow government Quot and he pledged that if re elected he would grow Down the deficit. A at first a writes a horrified Anthony Lanyi of Mclean va., a i assumed these were slips of the Tongue since grow As a transitive verb is used Only in an agricultural context As in i grow tomatoes in my  in similar dismay Esther fein a new York times reporter reared in the tradition of Fine distinctions stopped me in the Hall to say a you raise cattle and rear children but grow the Economy and grow Down the deficit a grow to like it because the transitive use of grow in a Citi fied sense has deep roots in the language and is Here to stay. A Whan David had reigned Vii Yere in Ebron a William Caxton wrote in 1481 about Jerusalem a the grew and amended moche this  Fred Mish editorial director of Merriam Webster says a the transitive use of Grov with inanimate objects like business is covered by the Basic transitive definition to cause to  a the object of grow does no to have to be limited to soybeans or a Beard a it can logically apply to growing a business an Economy a government or a deficit. But what about growing Down this term is an oxymoron a jarring juxtaposition of opposites with an honoured place in English dialect the English lexicographer James Halliwell reported in 1847 that a to grow downward . To get smaller was Quot a common phrase in the  Down is not used nearly so often in verb phrases As up but we pay Down Loans dress Down illiterates and bring Down presidents in the Case of grow Down we arc influenced by the recent build Down of forces which played off buildup. Be not horrified at what seem like daring or extended usages even by politicians under pressure. The unfamiliar should not be presumed to be mistaken that show we grow the  than who when George Bush spoke of a a Kinder gentler nation in 1988,1 recently reported that Nancy Reagan turned to a convention Bomate and tartly asked a Kinder than who a i added a she knew when the Cord was being Cut despite her grammatical  Purist who whom Niks hit Back. In the course of a thoughtful letter on values Neil Rudenstine the president of Harvard writes a if we Are thinking about the nation then a Kinder than what a would probably have been right. But if the comparison seemed rather More personal then Kinder than who a is maybe clumsily  Hermione Wickenden of Weston conn., writes a if the question had been completed it would logically read a Kinder than who or Ronnie is kind a a a David Carney of Sag Harbor n.y., notes a you obviously mistook than a conjunctive adverb of Compa Rison for a preposition.�?�. You bet i take than As a preposition not a conjunction. The purists would ask a Kinder than who is a and answer a Kinder than i am a i purists or non stiffs would answer a Kinder than me a using the objective Case and substituting the objective whom for me. Nancy Reagan a Friend Peter Hannaford takes no position on the who whom controversy but Points out that mrs. Reagan did not listen to the speech from a convention Box and doubts the accuracy of my report. Maybe its apocryphal though my source says not if mrs. Reagan said it she used the words a Kinder than who a and i am prepared to concede she has a legion of who whom Niks to support her  supersession Sank same some spooky character answering a query about the theft of communication encoders and keys from the department of Justice dumped a Bunch of secret memos on my desk i will mine the dump for news in another space but cannot resist reporting immediately on the language of Security bureaucrats. Describing an inventory Check the Man from do co Sec Central office of record writes a fall items were physically  presumably this Means the items themselves a not pictures or descriptions or computer simulations a were seen by the inventory takers human Eye. Physically is sometimes used to mean a i was there sighted can have the sense of being seen from afar or the sense of not being Blind. In Normal human discourse physically sighted would be put As actually seen. Quot the destruction of superseded key is accorded High priority with Asa Quot the Security official notes sternly. Asa stands for National Security Agency nicknamed no such Agency key is i assume code material superseded key must be a old codes superseded or replaced by new ones. Comes from the latin supersede re literally a to sit on top  thus if you look at an old code and want to impress your superiors about it in a memo you write you Are physically sighting superseded key. A custodian failed to destroy Over 300 pieces of top secret operational and contingency Stu ii key material a huffs the investigating officer using Over when he Means More than a within five Days of  although supersession was in use in 1790 to mean a the act of superseding Quot it has itself been super Sedad by the Gerund superseding. He should have written a within five Days of superseding a supersession among the ninth Street cognoscenti connotes a fun time in the office of the attorney , ites or ians will the followers of Bill Clinton follow the practice of George Mcgovern Richard Nixon or Ronald Reagan if the first we will see frequent references to Clin totes modelled on Fogo Verniter. Another Choice would be Dinton ians on the analogy of Nixon ans a third would be Clint nauts originating in argonauts by Way of Reagan uts. The Only other possibility that comes to mind is la ties modelled on busies that wont Fly. Me new York time columnist Tony Kornheiser is on vacation. Page 24 a sunday november 5, 1992