Friday, May 6, 2011

Pushing the Envelope

An example of a phrase that is not only overused, but misused.

The term comes from aviation, specifically from test pilots seeking to describe taking a course of action that exceeds the known safe specification of the hardware.  It means to take a risk by pushing "the envelope of safe performance" which consists of altitude, speed, heat, acceleration, turning radius, and so forth.

In business-speak it means simply to "innovate".  Seems like that's the word that should be used, since it conveys the intended meaning.

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