Jul 10
Use versus Utilize
Have you noticed that "utilize" it's getting used a LOT these days? It's like someone decided that they needed a fancier way to say "use" and somehow "utilize" makes you sound smarter!
But not if you are using the word incorrectly!
Does this drive me bonkers enough I decided I needed to write a whole post about it? YES.
Use is what you do with a thing according to its intended purpose. eg. I used the bat to hit the ball.
Utilize is when you do with the thing something NOT intended for its purpose. eg. I utilized the bat to break the window.
Or, to make it more fun:
I utilized the word utilize when talking about using something for its intended purpose because I thought it sounded better.
#I know language evolves#but my darlings please stop thinking saying utilize when you mean use sounds better#it really doesn't#it's pretentious#and it's very annoying for those of us with editor brains#I can't turn off the autocorrect in my head and I swear I am correcting this dozens of times a month
