Let's all agree not to use the word utilize. Not ever. Let's strike it from our language and get on with writing and talking like normal people.
Utilize is a waste of space and syllables. Is there ever a case where saying utilize makes more sense than use? To utilize: to make utility of. That sounds like a college-paper-padded way of saying use, a wonderful English word that captures everything it needs in a single syllable.
9 comments:
You can make it even uglier by discussing a "utilization," which, curiously could also be replaced with "use." (Of course, this is an example of an interesting phenomenon where in standard practice a minor pronunciation change accompanies a change of meaning or part of speech: here, the unvoiced [s] replacing the voiced [z] sound.)
As a mildly humorous coincidence below, your captcha is asking me to type "used" to prove I'm not a robot.
I hereby vow not to utilize the use of the word utilize as an attempt to inflate my apparent use of larger than necessary words. That stated, I intend to remain a user of small words if only to save myself time.
Not funny at all are the words being used to prove I'm not a robot as neither are familiar to me at all.
Fair enough.
I wanted to *employ* this comment box to tell you I picked up at the library a newly published travel memoir today and thought you may be interested. The author decides to bike around the perimeter of the US, with immigration as his theme of study. Even if you are not so interested in the socio-political motivations and focus of the trip, I think the biking cross-country (and then some: it's really a huge circle) would intrigue you. I know you read Travels With Charley a year or two ago and something tells me you've mentioned other travelogues, so I thought of you when I saw it at the library.
I'm 50-some pages in, and pleased to find out he lived some of his youth in Houston, so he even mentions biking here (and about 3/4 of the way around the journey, he'll be biking through here). Oh, one more thing, he starts by going north along the CA coast. Didn't you do that and tell us about it here on the blog?
Okay, enough rambling. Here's the link:
http://www.amazon.com/Journey-Around-Our-America-Latinoization/dp/0292743874/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1369280214&sr=8-5&keywords=journey+across+our+america
Josh— And there's the idiomatic used to. What an overloaded word root!
By the way, are you trying to goad me into writing another anti-parentheses post? (Insert emoticon here.)
Bobby et al.—Will you use utilize for purposes other than for inflating your use of larger-than-necessary words?
Lindsey— Thanks for the link. Perimeter cycling is a well established part of bicycle touring in general. There's even an organization that keeps track of notable perimeter rides: http://www.perimeterbicycling.com/perimeter-records/.
Anyone looking to break a record could do that by riding the perimeter of Texas. The route is 3,504 miles and the record is 182 days, so you could break the record by averaging twenty miles a day—assuming you have a lot of free time.
The word has been eliminated from my vocabulary.
I'd like to read about the person willing to ride the perimeter of Texas. It seems like the southern border would be an uncomfortable ride for more reasons than desert conditions.
Lindsey— ¿Hablas español?
Much less than I should be able! I feel it's a real handicap. Has your Spanish improved since living in Arizona?
Lindsey— Nope. I tend to prefer learning more about machine languages than natural ones.
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