What a strange way to utilize this list-serve...
;) Don
______________________________________
On Fri, 7 Jun 2002, Marcy Neth wrote:
> Dear Colleagues,
> The time has come for me to vent about a habit many of us have developed:
> the use of the word UTILIZE. Use and Utilize do not mean the same thing.
> As educators, librarians, information masters, we should know this and take
> care. I especially like the following explanation:
>
> (from http://www.agcom.purdue.edu/AgCom/library/ontarget/archive/ot5_99.html)
>
> Grammar Trap: Use vs. Utilize
> One difference between these two verbs is a relatively subtle, semantic
> one. Another has to do with style.
>
> "Use" means to employ something for its intended or appropriate purpose.
>
> Example: I often use suggestions from readers to determine "Grammar Trap"
> topics.
>
> "Utilize" means to employ something for a new or unintended purpose, or to
> make do with an item meant for something else.
>
> Examples: I often utilize the manuscripts I edit as sources of "Grammar
> Trap" topics. I didn't have a screw driver handy, so I utilized a knife.
>
> So much for the semantic difference between the two words.
>
> The style difference?
>
> Many people seem to have gotten the idea that "utilize" is a classier, more
> formal version of "use." It isn't. It's just longer. And, because it's
> longer, it's to be avoided.
>
> This is especially true when you're trying to reach a lay audience with
> material that's unfamiliar and perhaps already difficult for them to
> understand. Why make them work any harder than they have to? Why make your
> material seem more difficult than it is?
>
> Tip: Don't write "utilize" when "use" will do. And it almost always will.
>
>
> Marcy Neth
> Reader Services Librarian
> John M. Flaxman Library
> [log in to unmask]
>
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