| Author |
Message |
Christian Christmann
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2005 8:00 pm
Post subject: "Utilize" associated with "software" |
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Hi,
can I use the verb "utilize" relating to software, like:
"The researcher utilizes the software ...."
The reason I'm asking is that the Advanced Learner's
Dictionary claims that "utilize" should be applied for
"to use sth, especially for a practical purpose".
However, software, in a sense, is virtual and cannot really
be used practically.
Or did I get it wrong?
Thank you,
Chris
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Salvatore Volatile
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2005 8:00 pm
Post subject: Re: "Utilize" associated with "software" |
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Christian Christmann wrote:
| Quote: | Hi,
can I use the verb "utilize" relating to software, like:
"The researcher utilizes the software ...."
The reason I'm asking is that the Advanced Learner's
Dictionary claims that "utilize" should be applied for
"to use sth, especially for a practical purpose".
However, software, in a sense, is virtual and cannot really
be used practically.
Or did I get it wrong?
|
It's certainly wrong that software "cannot really be used practically".
You seem to be saying that anything that is, in some sense, abstract or
intangible cannot also have a practical use, which is stone silly.
However, I'd still not use "utilize" ordinarily when speaking of software
(or many other things with a practical application) when "use" is
perfectly okay. "Utilize" has its place, but it tends to be overused by
bad writers, particularly those with backgrounds in engineering and
related disciplines (NTTAWWT).
So, in your sentence, "utilize" could be okay, but if "use" works I'd
stick with that unless you have good reason to use "utilize" instead. |
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Jim Lawton
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2005 8:05 pm
Post subject: Re: "Utilize" associated with "software" |
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On Fri, 28 Oct 2005 16:00:01 +0200, Christian Christmann <plfriko@yahoo.de>
wrote:
| Quote: | Hi,
can I use the verb "utilize" relating to software, like:
"The researcher utilizes the software ...."
The reason I'm asking is that the Advanced Learner's
Dictionary claims that "utilize" should be applied for
"to use sth, especially for a practical purpose".
However, software, in a sense, is virtual and cannot really
be used practically.
Or did I get it wrong?
|
I'm afraid so. I think you can use a virtual thing in general - for instance an
intellectual logical process, not just software. Not to mention that the people
who use computer software, are usually called "users"!
--
Jim
the polymoth
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Donna Richoux
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2005 8:10 pm
Post subject: Re: "Utilize" associated with "software" |
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Christian Christmann <plfriko@yahoo.de> wrote:
| Quote: | can I use the verb "utilize" relating to software, like:
"The researcher utilizes the software ...."
The reason I'm asking is that the Advanced Learner's
Dictionary claims that "utilize" should be applied for
"to use sth, especially for a practical purpose".
However, software, in a sense, is virtual and cannot really
be used practically.
Or did I get it wrong?
|
You seem to have the wrong angle on "practical." To use something for a
practical purpose would mean to make money, to get important results
accomplished, to save time and effort -- purposes like those. It's hard
to imagine software with no practical use. Those dancing hamsters,
maybe.
Yes, you can use "utilize" the way you say, but don't overdo it -- "use"
is usually simpler and better.
Or perhaps there is some sort of specific shade of meaning of "utilize"
in the computer field that I am not aware of.
--
Best -- Donna Richoux |
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Joe Fineman
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2005 7:03 am
Post subject: Re: "Utilize" associated with "software" |
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Christian Christmann <plfriko@yahoo.de> writes:
| Quote: | Hi,
can I use the verb "utilize" relating to software, like:
"The researcher utilizes the software ...."
The reason I'm asking is that the Advanced Learner's Dictionary
claims that "utilize" should be applied for "to use sth, especially
for a practical purpose". However, software, in a sense, is virtual
and cannot really be used practically.
|
I think the definition is wrong, or at any rate so vague as to be
useless. To utilize something, IMO, is to make use of it, to put it
to use. The word is appropriate in situations where the implied
contrast is between using & not using the thing, rather than between
using it & using something else. I might, in a formal mood, say "I
utilized a pencil to keep the door open a crack". I would certainly
not say "I utilized a pencil to write the note".
If that is so, there is nothing about software _per se_ that would
make "utilize" wrong. I might perfectly well say "I did not know a
database language, so I utilized my text editor to maintain the
address list".
--
--- Joe Fineman joe_f@verizon.net
||: Be 30% more considerate of others than they are of you, to  |
||: allow for bias. | |
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Charles Riggs
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2005 12:48 pm
Post subject: Re: "Utilize" associated with "software" |
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On Fri, 28 Oct 2005 16:10:04 +0200, trio@euronet.nl (Donna Richoux)
wrote:
| Quote: | Christian Christmann <plfriko@yahoo.de> wrote:
can I use the verb "utilize" relating to software, like:
"The researcher utilizes the software ...."
The reason I'm asking is that the Advanced Learner's
Dictionary claims that "utilize" should be applied for
"to use sth, especially for a practical purpose".
However, software, in a sense, is virtual and cannot really
be used practically.
Or did I get it wrong?
You seem to have the wrong angle on "practical." To use something for a
practical purpose would mean to make money, to get important results
accomplished, to save time and effort -- purposes like those. It's hard
to imagine software with no practical use.
|
You haven't taken a good look at many freeware or shareware programs,
it seems.
--
Charles Riggs |
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Joe Fineman
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2005 8:43 pm
Post subject: Re: "Utilize" associated with "software" |
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Joe Fineman <joe_f@verizon.net> writes:
| Quote: | Christian Christmann <plfriko@yahoo.de> writes:
"The researcher utilizes the software ...."
The reason I'm asking is that the Advanced Learner's Dictionary
claims that "utilize" should be applied for "to use sth, especially
for a practical purpose". However, software, in a sense, is
virtual and cannot really be used practically.
I think the definition is wrong, or at any rate so vague as to be
useless. To utilize something, IMO, is to make use of it, to put it
to use. The word is appropriate in situations where the implied
contrast is between using & not using the thing, rather than between
using it & using something else.
|
Thinking this over in view of the example I gave below, I now think
that the above formulation is also imprecise, altho the synonyms &
examples I gave are representative of what I fancy to be standard
usage.
| Quote: | I might, in a formal mood, say "I utilized a pencil to keep the door
open a crack". I would certainly not say "I utilized a pencil to
write the note".
If that is so, there is nothing about software _per se_ that would
make "utilize" wrong. I might perfectly well say "I did not know a
database language, so I utilized my text editor to maintain the
address list".
|
Arguably, this also implies a contrast "between using it & using
something else". So what *is* the difference (in my dialect)?
Intuitively, it is that you arrived at the choice of what to use, not
by comparing alternatives & picking one, but by looking around &
saying "Aha!".
--
--- Joe Fineman joe_f@verizon.net
||: In the end, deceivers deceive themselves. | |
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Joe Higman
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2005 6:22 am
Post subject: Re: "Utilize" associated with "software" |
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"Joe Fineman" <joe_f@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:uacgtw2vs.fsf@verizon.net...
| Quote: | Christian Christmann <plfriko@yahoo.de> writes:
Hi,
can I use the verb "utilize" relating to software, like:
"The researcher utilizes the software ...."
I think the definition is wrong, or at any rate so vague as to be
useless. To utilize something, IMO, is to make use of it, to put it
to use.
|
But is there any context in which it would be better to use the ugly
"utilize" instead of the simple "use"? What do the extra two syllables add
apart from a sense of pretentiousness?
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Charles Riggs
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2005 8:08 am
Post subject: Re: "Utilize" associated with "software" |
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On Thu, 3 Nov 2005 23:22:48 -0000, "Joe Higman" <zen79148@zen.co.uk>
wrote:
| Quote: |
"Joe Fineman" <joe_f@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:uacgtw2vs.fsf@verizon.net...
Christian Christmann <plfriko@yahoo.de> writes:
Hi,
can I use the verb "utilize" relating to software, like:
"The researcher utilizes the software ...."
I think the definition is wrong, or at any rate so vague as to be
useless. To utilize something, IMO, is to make use of it, to put it
to use.
But is there any context in which it would be better to use the ugly
"utilize" instead of the simple "use"? What do the extra two syllables add
apart from a sense of pretentiousness?
|
That about covers it. The word may have a useful function in the form
of "utilization curve". "Use curve" doesn't sound right, somehow.
--
Charles Riggs |
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Jim Lawton
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2005 2:41 pm
Post subject: Re: "Utilize" associated with "software" |
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On Fri, 04 Nov 2005 04:17:32 +0000, Charles Riggs <chriggs@éircom.net> wrote:
| Quote: | On Thu, 3 Nov 2005 23:22:48 -0000, "Joe Higman" <zen79148@zen.co.uk
wrote:
"Joe Fineman" <joe_f@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:uacgtw2vs.fsf@verizon.net...
Christian Christmann <plfriko@yahoo.de> writes:
Hi,
can I use the verb "utilize" relating to software, like:
"The researcher utilizes the software ...."
I think the definition is wrong, or at any rate so vague as to be
useless. To utilize something, IMO, is to make use of it, to put it
to use.
But is there any context in which it would be better to use the ugly
"utilize" instead of the simple "use"? What do the extra two syllables add
apart from a sense of pretentiousness?
That about covers it. The word may have a useful function in the form
of "utilization curve". "Use curve" doesn't sound right, somehow.
|
Although we do have in OOD (object oriented design) the concept of "Use Cases" -
ways in which a user might use a system.
I feel a subtle difference between "use" and "utilise". It is the same
difference which I feel between "use" and "make use of" - but I'll be blowed if
I can put my finger on what that difference is.
--
Jim
the polymoth |
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Charles Riggs
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2005 3:07 pm
Post subject: Re: "Utilize" associated with "software" |
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On Fri, 04 Nov 2005 07:41:37 GMT, Jim Lawton
<usenet1@jimlawton.TAKEOUTinfo> wrote:
| Quote: | On Fri, 04 Nov 2005 04:17:32 +0000, Charles Riggs <chriggs@éircom.net> wrote:
On Thu, 3 Nov 2005 23:22:48 -0000, "Joe Higman" <zen79148@zen.co.uk
wrote:
"Joe Fineman" <joe_f@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:uacgtw2vs.fsf@verizon.net...
Christian Christmann <plfriko@yahoo.de> writes:
Hi,
can I use the verb "utilize" relating to software, like:
"The researcher utilizes the software ...."
I think the definition is wrong, or at any rate so vague as to be
useless. To utilize something, IMO, is to make use of it, to put it
to use.
But is there any context in which it would be better to use the ugly
"utilize" instead of the simple "use"? What do the extra two syllables add
apart from a sense of pretentiousness?
That about covers it. The word may have a useful function in the form
of "utilization curve". "Use curve" doesn't sound right, somehow.
Although we do have in OOD (object oriented design) the concept of "Use Cases" -
ways in which a user might use a system.
I feel a subtle difference between "use" and "utilise". It is the same
difference which I feel between "use" and "make use of" - but I'll be blowed if
I can put my finger on what that difference is.
|
Me neither, although I notice the definitions of the two words are
very different. There *must* be a sentence where "utilize" is the
better choice, but I'll even be fucked if I can think of one.
--
Charles Riggs |
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Alan Jones
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2005 3:49 pm
Post subject: Re: "Utilize" associated with "software" |
|
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"Jim Lawton" <usenet1@jimlawton.TAKEOUTinfo> wrote in message
news:r24mm1dnt2r1cjeg69uuesnsl2latmuji2@4ax.com...
[...]
| Quote: | I feel a subtle difference between "use" and "utilise". It is the same
difference which I feel between "use" and "make use of" - but I'll be
blowed if
I can put my finger on what that difference is.
|
I sort-of-intuit that "utilise" and "make use of" are suitable expressions
when the whatnot that's being employed is not the usual or specialist tool.
If I haven't got an egg-whisk I shall have to utilise a fork. ("Utilise" is
not in fact a word I'd use - it seems clumsy.)
Alan Jones |
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El Brujo
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2005 5:09 am
Post subject: Re: "Utilize" associated with "software" |
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Or, don't utilize utilize if you can use use.
"Alan Jones" <atj@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
news:GgFaf.58966$m%6.6371@fe3.news.blueyonder.co.uk...
| Quote: |
"Jim Lawton" <usenet1@jimlawton.TAKEOUTinfo> wrote in message
news:r24mm1dnt2r1cjeg69uuesnsl2latmuji2@4ax.com...
[...]
I feel a subtle difference between "use" and "utilise". It is the same
difference which I feel between "use" and "make use of" - but I'll be
blowed if
I can put my finger on what that difference is.
I sort-of-intuit that "utilise" and "make use of" are suitable expressions
when the whatnot that's being employed is not the usual or specialist
tool. If I haven't got an egg-whisk I shall have to utilise a fork.
("Utilise" is not in fact a word I'd use - it seems clumsy.)
Alan Jones
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Graeme Thomas
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Nov 06, 2005 3:28 pm
Post subject: Re: "Utilize" associated with "software" |
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In article <GgFaf.58966$m%6.6371@fe3.news.blueyonder.co.uk>, Alan Jones
<atj@blueyonder.co.uk> writes
| Quote: | ("Utilise" is
not in fact a word I'd use - it seems clumsy.)
|
Eric Partridge, in _Usage and Abusage_, didn't much care for "utilize".
He said something like "99 times out of 100 it is vastly inferior to
'use'. The remaining time it is merely inferior."
I have seen no evidence to gainsay him.
--
Graeme Thomas |
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