General
Attn: Engineers – Stop Misusing ‘Utilize’
Posted by HokieTux on May 27, 2010 in General
Perhaps one of the most common mistakes I see in technical writing is the misuse of the word ‘utilize‘. It is sadly common for authors writing conference and journal papers to substitute the word ‘utilize’ for ‘use’, often because it simply sounds fancier. There seems to be a perception that if you describe your idea with convoluted, big words, then it will sound more intelligent.
False.
If your idea, design, or invention is truly innovative, then your writing should be just as impressive with simple and easy-to-read syntax and diction. Attempting to glorify your work with impossible-to-understand diction only alienates your audience and makes what is likely an already complicated subject even harder to understand. On top of that, ‘utilize’ does not have the same definition as ‘use’.
Here is a real example from an actual published paper where the author goes totally overboard while trying to sound intelligent. The result is that the author just sounds like an idiot. This example is a little worse than what most people would write, but it does illustrate how far some authors take this practice. Here it is:
“The tests illustrate that the waveform utilized the correct interfaces and properly utilized them.”
Impressive, right?
There is a Wiki Answers article which perfectly summarizes the proper use of ‘utilize’. Here is what it says:
“Use” and “utilize” are often used interchangably, as synonyms, usually to turn a boring one-syllable word into a fancy-sounding three-syllable word. Unfortunately this practice has diluted the original meaning of “utilize.”The real difference is “use” means what you think it means, to employ for some purpose, whereas “utilize” means to use something for other than its intended purpose, or to give something a purpose that it is not normally thought to have. …
Example:
“We used the bus to transport all the tour members.”
“We utilized the bus for shelter in the fierce, unexpected blizzard.”
In the first you are using the bus as… a bus, so “use” is appropriate and sufficient. In the second you are using the bus as a shelter, so you are giving it a utility, or purpose, that it does not normally serve.
Try not to use “utilize” when you really just mean “use.” You may think it makes you sound sophisticated to simple people, and it probably does, but it also makes you sound simple to sophisticated people.
I think the closing line is perfect. You may think you sound intelligent by using ‘utilize’, but you sound pretty stupid to people that are intelligent.
A Great Article About Use vs. Utilize
A 12-Year Old Piece About Use vs. Utilize
ROFLcopter ASCII Text
Posted by HokieTux on March 2, 2009 in General
EDIT: If you know how to make WordPress stop mangling whitespace in comments, please leave it in a comment and let me know! As you can see, everyone’s ROFLCOPTER comment posts get totally owned.
I’m tired of searching the web for the ASCII version of the ROFLcopter whenever I need it, so I’m posting it here to make it easy to find.
ROFL:ROFL:LOL:ROFL:ROFL | L /--------- LOL=== []\ L \ \ \_________\ | | -------------/
And yes, there are plenty of times that I ‘need’ the ROFLcopter text.
Edit:
Below is an alternate version, posted by Dark Emporer in a comment. Thanks!!
ROFL:ROFL:LOL:ROFL:ROFL ______|_____ L / \ LOL=== []\ L \______________\ | | -------------/
Edit #2:
iampatrick4life has contributed a version that will work on sites that cut whitespace, like GameFAQs: Comment #209
I’m Still Alive
Posted by HokieTux on November 19, 2008 in General, News
This is really just a ‘ping’ post to say that this site is still up and I plan on getting back to it as soon as I can. This semester, the last of my time as an undergraduate, has been extraordinarily rough in terms of coursework. I have had just about no time to do anything but work, and so updating this blog and website quickly got put on the back-burner.
As of start of classes in January, I will be a GRA here at Virginia Tech, pursuing my Masters in Computer Engineering. I very much hope to have more time to keep this site updated with new, useful material.
So, I’m Still Alive, and I’ll be back soon!
Fried Computer, Updates
Posted by HokieTux on June 29, 2008 in General, News
Well, as it turns out, my video card wasn’t only suicidal, but somewhat murderous. It would appear that when it went boom (see my previous post), it took the rest of my machine with it.
I know two other people that have had the same type of video card, and theirs both exploded as well. Given this, I’m going to go ahead and say that you should steer clear of EVGA’s 7600 GT line. They are rather aged now anyways, but if you are building a low system, make sure you avoid this line of products.
Unfortunately, I don’t think I can simply buy a couple of replacement parts for the machine and be done with it… I’m really not sure of which exact components are fried, but my suspicion is that the motherboard is dead. At this point, it would be really difficult to find a replacement motherboard that I could reuse the rest of my components with since they weren’t exactly top-of-the-line when I bought them 2 years ago. This leaves me in the position of being able to re-use my harddrive… and that’s pretty much it. Even my PSU will need to be upgraded to handle a larger load given the power demands of newer components.
Not only did I lose my primary machine, but I’m now cut-off from my primary data drive. My main storage is formatted as XFS, which is accessible easily on Linux systems, and from other machines via a Samba share that I had running on it. However, now that the machine isn’t running anymore, I can’t access it. I’ve desperately hoped for years that Apple would add ZFS/XFS support to OS X… but it hasn’t happened yet.
As far as articles go, I had promised a few people that the next post would be on zsh. However, with my Linux machine out of commission, it will have to wait until I get replacement parts in and have it back up and running.
Well, wish me luck!
Site Updates, Future Plans
Posted by HokieTux on April 20, 2008 in General, News
Choosing a WordPress theme for this blog was likely the most painful step of its creation. I set out to find a “good, minimalist theme”; what I seem to have found is a “good minimalist theme”. This theme’s creator appears to be adept at layout & design, but seems to have trouble actually implementing his ideas (e.g. defining a class in the CSS stylesheet, and then attempting to invoke that class with a different name – “archives” vs “archive”).
So it goes though. The last WP theme I played with was written in Italian. This theme’s code doesn’t have any comments… but if it did, at least I could read them.
Regardless, I’ve made a lot of changes / additions / fixes to the theme over the last few days:
