LL-L "Lexicon" 2009.11.04 (03) [EN]

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L O W L A N D S - L - 04 November 2009 - Volume 03
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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Lexicon

Mark,

You asked about the use of "utilize" versus "use". I am not sure why people
use the former, and I am no one to talk because I plead guilty to using it
occasionally myself.

And I also plead guilty to having misspelled "riff-raff" as (canine-sounding
... ah ... I should say "doggish-sounding") "riff-ruff" *and* then having
copied it to the "simplified" version. Ah, well ...

Furthermore, I missed a commonly used Latinate word:

Isn't it just that words that came from Latin, French and Norman are thought
of as more "learned," "serious" or "high-level" and are therefore often used
and played with to make things sound "classy," "scientific," "legal" and
overall "better"? Compared with them, most Germanic-rooted words sound "
simple" and "everyday" to most English speakers. This would make clear much
of what you and I think of as needless use of such words (that are known as
"Latinate").
 Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
Seattle, USA

•

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