Maybe it is a sign of aging, but I am increasingly becoming aware of the inappropriate use of certain words. When I was doing my under graduate degree my supervisor was a chap called Peter Callery. One thing that sticks in my head is his criticism of how I attempted to make my writing some how more ‘academic’ by the selective use of big words – as I progressed down my academic career I realised how right he was.
Dr. Callery really disliked the word ‘utilise’; I would have a sentence like
In this paper we utilise the following approaches….
His preference was the word ‘use’ – simple, correct and far more readable. I later found out his first degree was actually in English Language!
So, to the point, what word is bothering me this week?
Well, should you ‘use’ insane or inane?
I guess that depends on the sentence, but generally you hear people, objects (e.g. cars, journeys, buildings, etc) or even policies being described as insane – the definition of which is
not sane; not of sound mind; mentally deranged.
of, pertaining to, or characteristic of a person who is mentally deranged: insane actions; an insane asylum.
utterly senseless: an insane plan.
The word you hear less frequently is inane, definition –
lacking sense, significance, or ideas; silly: inane questions.
empty; void.
something that is empty or void, esp. the void of infinite space.
So, in real terms people are doing exactly the same as my ‘utilise’ experience, they are using a word inappropriately. The next time you want to be clever, just replace the incorrect ‘insane’, with the more apt ‘inane’, you’ll feel and look much more smart.
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