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Date:      Mon, 8 Apr 2002 11:24:09 +0200
From:      Rahul Siddharthan <rsidd@online.fr>
To:        Mark Murray <mark@grondar.za>
Cc:        Terry Lambert <tlambert2@mindspring.com>, freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: Use/Utilize
Message-ID:  <20020408112409.A90467@lpt.ens.fr>
In-Reply-To: <200204061202.g36C2aPL036777@grimreaper.grondar.org>; from mark@grondar.za on Sat, Apr 06, 2002 at 01:02:36PM %2B0100
References:  <3CAEE006.F36598B1@mindspring.com> <200204061202.g36C2aPL036777@grimreaper.grondar.org>

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Mark Murray said on Apr  6, 2002 at 13:02:36:
> > If they distinguished "use" and "utilization" of the code,
> > then it would be much clearer, IMO.
> > 
> > Maybe it's just because I'm a native English speaker, and
> > most of the people who argue that "use" and "utilize" are
> > "the same" are not... if they're synonyms to the rest of
> > the world, then I think that it needs to excplicitly and
> > seperately identify which "use" is being talked about where.
> 
> "I will use it" == "I will utilise it".
> "It has no use" == "It has no utility".
> 
> "Use/use/use" and "utilize/utility/utilization" are exact synonyms
> with different conventional uses.
> 
> BTW - I am a native English speaker too. My English is "Colonial
> English", very close to British English.

And I learned English in India, it's basically British English too --
at least in its "formal" version; the slang is very different.

Terry, on the other hand, is a native speaker of American which is not
really English :)

On a recent visit to the US I kept getting bitten by this.  For
instance, when put on hold on the telephone, they said "an operator
will be with you momentarily" -- I later learned that "momentarily"
has a different meaning in the US.  And then in a restaurant, looking
at the menu I remarked that this seemed to be only appetizers and
entrées, and was told that in the US, "entrée" means "main course".
"Toilet" is a dirty word.  And so on...

So I thought it was indeed possible that Americans mean something
different by "utilize" and "use".  But Merriam-Webster says otherwise.

Rahul

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