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why do we say utilize?

By Dennis Tribble posted 10-20-2017 11:56

  

OK... this is a (thankfully short) rant...

I was just reading an article in Informatics Interchange today, and ran up against one of my pet peeves, which is the way we butcher the English language. The word in question, "utilize", appears quite often in our writing (thankfully less so in our speaking), and is a synonym for the simpler, more common, and easier-to-read word "use". It conveys no connotative or denotative meaning other than that conveyed by "use". So why employ it?

I understand the use of the word "utility"; it either means "easy to use" (as in "that tool has great utility") or a publicly available service (as in, "electricity is an example of a public utility"), but we typically easily figure out which with context and we rarely use this word in professional speech. 

But "utilize"?

I note that this is not unique to the pharmacy world; it seems to appear in a lot of healthcare literature.

Do we think it makes us seem smarter or more sophisticated?

Do we think it conveys something other (or more) than the word "use"?

Do we just use it because we think it is expected?

I am certain that there are other words that we use where there is more common language; strangely I am having trouble coming up with them right now. I know that I sometimes use words because I know (and miss) them in common speech (like using "prestidigitation" instead of "magic") but that's just me being.. well... arrogant. 

Still, I believe that speech benefits from being plain, as do many things. So can we agree to not use "utilize"?

Just sayin....

Dennis A. Tribble, Pharm. D., FASHP
Ormond Beach, FL
DATdoc@aol.com

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10-24-2017 09:47

I think this is part of the bigger medical culture, in that there seems to be a desire to separate medical language and lay language - if for no other reason but to make a distinction of the professional.  For example, why would doctors refer to an abcess as "fluctuant" or "indurated" rather than "soft/spongy" or "hard"?  Why did we use Latin abbreviations on our prescriptions?

10-23-2017 08:59

One of my pet peeves as well! There's no reason for it.