So Much Grading, So Little Will to Live
Why, oh why? I beg and I plead.
"Please," I ask them. "Please never write 'utilize' or 'societal.' 'Use' and 'social' sound so much nicer. And so much less pompous."
But they do not listen.
Now, I know that this is a minor point. And I certainly don't lower anyone's grade over this. And I recognize that this might be a purely idiosyncratic peeve. I've said as much to them.
But couldn't they just indulge me? Just once?
Please?
"Please," I ask them. "Please never write 'utilize' or 'societal.' 'Use' and 'social' sound so much nicer. And so much less pompous."
But they do not listen.
Now, I know that this is a minor point. And I certainly don't lower anyone's grade over this. And I recognize that this might be a purely idiosyncratic peeve. I've said as much to them.
But couldn't they just indulge me? Just once?
Please?
posted by Feemus at
7:20 PM
5 Comments:
Indulge me, too! "Utilize" has been a pet peeve of mine for years...like, where is it necessary to use THAT idiotic word?
By
Anonymous, at 2:54 PM
And have you EVER heard any adequate justification for it? Anything that distinguishes it from "use"?
Blech.
By
Feemus, at 8:27 AM
I spent a couple of years writing/editing SOP's for a quasi-governmental agency (wow -- how weird does THAT sound?) and I cannot count the number of times people tried to slip this word into the texts. My fellow-students (back in the days when I was tudoring English Composition and would ask them why they chose to use a certain word like "utilize," for instance)would invariably tell me, "because it sounds good." And I would invaribly answer, "No," (thinking to myself, for AUGH!) "It doesn't."
By
Anonymous, at 11:21 AM
No, no it doesn't. It doesn't sound nice at all.
Damn, Claudia--is there anything you *haven't* done?
By
Feemus, at 3:00 PM
A quick scan of the Oxford English Dictionary seems to show that "utilize" is simply a more specific meaning of "use." "Utilize" means to "make use of" or "render useful." "Use" on the other hand has far more and varied meanings/applications. All of that being said, however, this is simply a matter semantics and technicalities. There is no practicle reason to . . . well, use "utitize."
By
RogueHistorian, at 3:02 PM
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