[Editors] Utilize this!

[Cathryn Delude]

So if I want to employ something, I will use "use" but if I want to  
promote it, I will utilize "utilize"...
Thanks!

-----------------
Cathryn M. Delude
Science Writer
McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT
cmdelude at mit.edu




On Mar 12, 2010, at 10:29 AM, Marilyn C Wilson wrote:

> Dear Editors,
>
> For your Friday morning mild amusement --
>
> I just had yet another annoying encounter with the word “utilize”  
> which seems more and more commonly used in sentences where the word   
> “use” is the better choice.
>
> So I went to the Internet to see if others share my reaction, and of  
> course there is quite a bit written about it!  In case you are  
> interested, here’s one example, from the blog of a man named Bob  
> Sutor:http://www.sutor.com/newsite/blog-open/?p=4227
>
>
> “Use” vs. “Utilize”
> This entry is one in a series that tackles issues of proper word use  
> and grammar in English.
>
> The incorrect yet increasingly common use of “utilize” instead of  
> the simpler “use” is well documented in several places around the  
> web. See, for example,
>
> Indeed, utilize can often be no more than a pretentious substitute  
> for use, and this should be avoided. However, utilizedoes have its  
> own meaning: ‘to turn to profitable use; to make a practical use  
> for’. This is not the same sense as ‘to bring into service’, which  
> is what use fundamentally means.
>
> at Random House.
>
> When words such as these are used incorrectly, the people to whom  
> you are speaking may think:
>
> you are ignorant of the definition of the word, so what else is  
> wrong in what you are saying?
> you are using a pretentious “big word” to sound more sophisticated  
> than you are
> you are slipping into jargon and can’t explain something in simple  
> terms
> None of these reflect well on you as a speaker, a writer, or as a  
> communicator in general.
>
> Here’s some guidance:
>
> If you are about to say “utilize” but “use” would work just as well,  
> then say “use.”
> If you previously thought something was useless, but you got clever  
> and now it isn’t, you are utilizing it.
> Note that outside the United States, “utilize” will likely be  
> spelled “utilise.”
>
>
>
> Have a great weekend all!
> Marilyn
>
>
>
> Marilyn C. Wilson, PhD
> Sr. Career Development Specialist
> Career Development Center
> MIT ~ GECDC
>  617-258-9149
> Twitter: mcwillow
> mcwilson at mit.edu
>
>
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