CommonFreddy Woo writes, "My wife thinks calling the front room a lounge is common. Worse, a friend of hers recently admonished her daughter for calling a toilet, a toilet. Lavatory darling. It's lavatory."
My own mother refused to let me use the word 'oblong' instead of 'rectangle'. Which is just odd, to be honest.
What stuff do you think is common?
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chthonic, Thu 16 Oct 2008, 16:06)
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Strictly speaking......according to Bill Bryson who knows everything about words, utilise means make the best of something that wasn't intended for the job. He gives the example of 'He utilised a coat hanger to repair his car'. Bryson also says it can be extended to mean making the most practical use of something. Other than that 'use' is the better word apparently.
And on another note... the word you were trying to spell is 'pretentious'
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enoughblueskyforsailorstrousers, Wed 22 Oct 2008, 20:21,
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I knew I'd spelt (? spelt?) it wrong....I need to remember that one - I'm always spelling it wrong. Not to be a spelling nazi, but it does matter, innit..
Never twigged that about "utilise". I developed my hatred of the word after seeing it sent up in Hemmingway's "The sun also rises". I used to have arguments with a pilot friend who insisted it would be bad for his career and therefore wrong to say anything other than "utilise the airspace". Makes sense if it has a deliberate connotation of "making full use of". A lot of people just "utilise" stuff when they could well say "use" however.
(, Wed 22 Oct 2008, 20:52, closed)
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