[Editors] Utilize this!

Fri Mar 12 12:38:25 EST 2010

Be sure to utilize caution when encountering errant Lexicons next week (March 17).

Michaël L. Harrington
Communications Coordinator, SAIS
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From: editors-bounces at MIT.EDU [mailto:editors-bounces at MIT.EDU] On Behalf Of Susan I. Shansky
Sent: Friday, March 12, 2010 11:53 AM
To: editors at MIT.EDU
Subject: Re: [Editors] Utilize this!

I can't orientate myself to the utilization of this lexicon.

On Mar 12, 2010, at 11:49 AM, Nicole M Malec wrote:

Yes, use-r friendly. ;)

Happy Friday.

-Nicole

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On Mar 12, 2010, at 11:45 AM, Scott R Campbell wrote:

That would be utilizable information...

On 3/12/10 10:44 AM, "Lily Underwood Burns" <lub at MIT.EDU<x-msg://119/lub@MIT.EDU>> wrote:

Thank you so much - and thank you everyone for sending along such useful information!

Have a fantastic weekend,

Lily

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, utilize does 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 <http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19980828> .

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<x-msg://119/mcwilson@mit.edu> <mailto:mcwilson at mit.edu>

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