The practice of using words beyond their contexts such that the
words’ meanings are tortured and yet are pretended not to be was a trend in
modern America during the 2010’s. The business manager instigated the trend in
order to “gild the lily,” which means to claim more than is warranted or
merited. Astonishingly, people dismissed or perhaps even didn’t recognize such
over-reaches. Perhaps as long as people have used language, egos gripped in the
pursuit of gain have presumed that keeping to a word’s extant meanings in a
language is somehow optional.
The full essay is at "Managerial Over-Reach."