Liberal
December 22, 2005, 1:49pm
141
I know I’m late to the party, but I had to weigh in on “utilize.” Generally I think you’re right, but strange to say, there’s a place in this world for “utilization.” In the medical business, “utilization” is commonly understood to mean “use or demand for hospital or medical services,” which makes it actually a shorthand. Someone might say, for example, “We expect the aging of the population to increase utilization,” which would be understood in a way that “We expect the aging of the population to increase use” would not. I wouldn’t be surprised if other types of business used the word in an analagous way. I don’t know if this redeems “utilize” or not, except that without “utilize,” there would be no “utilization.”
What about “usage”? We expect the aging of the population to increase usage.
[QUOTE=lalaith]
Leaffan:
I have a personal thing about Wednesday, and February. Being from the UK originally, I pronounce Wednesday with 3 syllables. It’s WED-NS-DAY, not WENS-DAY. And February isn’t pronounced like January. It has an R in the middle.
Someone from the U.K. is criticizing pronunciation? That’s the pot calling the kettle black. Tell it to my brother, Anthony, not An-ton-e, whose last name is not Cholmendeley or, as you would say it, Chum-lee. Lucky thing he’s not a lieutenant or a leff-ten-ent and that he doesn’t live in Gloucestershire (Gloss-ter-sher). Of course, if you really disagree with me we could fight about it. Let’s just make sure we use the Marquess of Queensberry (Mar-kwiss of Queens-bry) rules.
The point I am trying to make is that each country has its own pronunciations that are endemic. It doesn’t make one country right and the other wrong. It’s just part of each country’s heritage and adds to its charms.
So you go on saying Wed-ns-day & Fe-bru-ary and I’ll keep saying Wens-day & Feb-u-ary (both of which are perfectly proper pronunciations – check the dictionary).
And the word I most hate has already been mentioned. It’s paradigm. It’s a pretentious piece of s**t, that suddenly exploded all over this culture like projectile vomit. As if you couldn’t use the words “pattern” “example” or “model” (from my Webster’s New World Dictionary). No, corporate types and others who fancied themselves as intellectuals had to use “paradigm” as if to sound smarter than the rest of us.
Feb-u-ary? :eek: :eek: :eek:
::goes out::
::returns with big stick with a nail in it::
Come, let us reason together… :dubious:
That would be okay, except that “utilization” has become the standard term, the one people recognize and expect to hear. I even find myself saying it without compunction.
DoctorJ
December 22, 2005, 3:47pm
144
I hate it more when it refers to something that use to fall under the heading of “common courtesy” or “not being an asshole”.
What’s the difference between 7 and 6? Generally we say it’s 1.
What’s the difference between 6 and 7? We don’t hear this so often, but I believe technically it’s -1.
So the difference between 7 and 6 is different from the difference between 6 and 7.
HOWEVER:
The difference between 7 and 7 is 0
So if there’s the same difference, that means the two things we’re comparing are the same.
Thus my totally bogus justification for this expression. Resume hating :).
Daniel