Used vs Utilized

I don't know if this is specific to TeddyJ, but people never seem to say "used" when they mean "used"; instead they choose to say "utilized".

It happened five times today. It began to cause me physical pain.

And, of course, I can’t correct them, because they choose to use “utilize” because they want a little bump of importance, and much as you might want to, it’s cruel to knock someone who just wants a bump.

For more information about utilize versus use:

Grammarist Use/Utilize

 

Comments

[KC]

... yeah, that is a pet peeve for me, but also yes, choosing to be kind in the face of (slightly self-important) jargon is a good thing.

(using "gift" instead of "give" also bugs me [i.e. "I gifted her a bag of lemons for Christmas"], except when it disambiguates a situation between handing over payment or similar vs. something being a free gift - if you gave your house-cleaner $50 this week, it is different than if you *gifted* your house-cleaner $50 this week. ...admittedly, that still bugs me, but at least there the word is performing a service to some degree? Giving us something useful, one might say...)

[theQueen]

KC - oh but gave and gifted aren’t the same. “I gifted her a bag of lemons” is shorter than “I gave her the gift of a bag of lemons.” I stand by this even though this was the second slam on “gifted” I read today.

[KC]

But "I gave her a bag of lemons" is shorter than both, and how we used to use the word, although admittedly, "gifted" maybe implies wrapping paper but people use it for things that are like "when I heard that, I gifted her the book I'd just read that was on the side table" and that is obviously not wrapped, a specific Gift, etc...

[theQueen]

KC - Yes, I need to know it was a gift.