Re: Documentation Review
We're a fairly smallish company (definitely a small department) and we are in the process of putting a set of standards and processes into place. I guess the means for my questions were to get an idea of what people concentrate on while reviewing, who is utilized, and how.Who is used....
From “Getting the Words Right,” by Theodore A. Rees Cheney, Writer's Digest Books. (ISBN 0-89879-114-6)
USE/UTILIZE
It would be difficult to find a page of governmental, military, or academic writing that doesn't have on it the word utilize. It must be one of the most over-utilized words in the world. It seems as through people out to impress people with the significance of what they're going use utilize when they should use use.
Utilize is not an elegant variation of the word use; it has its own distinct meaning. When you utilize something, you make do with something not normally used for that purpose, e.g., you use a dime when the bloody screwdriver is nowhere to be found. If the screwdriver were there, you'd use it, not utilize a stupid dime for that purpose. Use use when you mean use, and utilize only when it's properly used to mean – to use something not normally used. The computer went off-line, so they utilized Mr. Wang's abacus, the one he liked to use. Despite the temporary breakdown, the computer's use-rate was up (not its utilization-rate).
In addition to the archives, you might find helpful information on Geoff Hart's site (http://www.geoff-hart.com/resources/bibliography.html)
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