The Most Over Utilized Word in Business

And I just utilized it in my title and again now. Yes, I'm talking about the word "utilize". I sat through a presentation this morning, and I wish I would have counted how many times it was utilized.

Definition time: u·til·ize (ytl-z)tr.v. u·til·ized, u·til·iz·ing, u·til·iz·es To put to use, especially to find a profitable or practical use for.

What happened to "use"? Is it considered a lesser word because it's only one syllable? Is this just another example of people trying to sound smarter than they really are, so they utilize a word that sounds fancy? I think it's like synergy, another word that keeps popping up. Do the executives and sales people who utilize synergy even know what it means?

And to be fair, it's not just business that utilizes "utilize". I recently watched an episode of Designed To Sell, and guess which word was utilized quite frequently? It wasn't synergy.....

I've utilized that word seven times in this post so far. Did my IQ increase with each usage? Or would that be utilization? That has a lot of syllables, so I must be really smart, right? To be fair, I know that there are situations where utilize would be more appropriate than use, and I have no complaints about those situations. What I have a problem with is that this word is just everywhere.

I have another presentation on Friday. I will count how many times I hear "utilize" and post the results.