3 ms·
Interesting. If you look at Wiktionary or if you prefer, your favorite etymology dictionary, the word utilize is descended from Latin from the French word utili
by vajrabum 3y ago
Interesting. If you look at Wiktionary or if you prefer, your favorite etymology dictionary, the word utilize is descended from Latin from the French word utiliser, via the Italian utilizzare which got it from the Latin utilis. All of those words mean to use.
I'd be the last person to say you're wrong. Matters of grammar and usage ultimately boil down to does it feel right and current usage. As is usual with these things, other people have different feelings about it. That's what dialect is I think.
- Xorakios 3y agoHarrumph, but you are certainly not the last person to type that you are incorrect and it all boils down to the dialectic.
- denton-scratch 3y ago"Dialectic" means something different from "dialect". I have no idea which you meant.
- denton-scratch 3y agoNevertheless, "use" is a better word. Using longer words, when shorter words are available that mean the same thing, comes across as pompous or pretentious.
- lipoid_ecole 3y agoSometimes, the longer word has a connotation that more clearly expresses our intention. Sometimes we want Hemmingway and other times we want Faulkner.
- ghaff 3y agoThey're not quite the same thing. One example I see online is using "utilize" to suggest that something is used beyond its intended purpose. (I'm not sure I even completely buy that.) But, in general, "use" is shorter and sounds less jargony.
- alasdair_ 3y ago>All of those words mean to use. "The teachers were unable to utilize the new computers" means something different from "The teachers were unable to use the new computers"
- xdennis 3y agoSorry, but what is the difference? "To utilize" is literally defined as "to use".
- alasdair_ 3y ago"utilize" - the teacher wasn't able to use the computers for the intended purpose of teaching the children. "use" - the teacher was unable to operate the computer at all (maybe they couldn't use the mouse, for example).
- jmholla 3y agoNo part of your example indicated the intent was to use the computers to teach children. Teachers can teach adults and they can use computers to do other things. In your examples, excepting your hidden intent, they were synonyms. Do you have a better example demonstrating this?