News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Wikipedia users edits over 90k uses of “comprised of”. Parent comment

Re:Wikipedia users edits over 90k uses of “comprised of” by alasdair_ on Saturday May 06, 2023 @03:31PM (#35844628)
>All of those words mean to use.

"The teachers were unable to utilize the new computers" means something different from "The teachers were unable to use the new computers"

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Wikipedia users edits over 90k uses of “comprised of” by xdennis on Saturday May 06, 2023 @04:13PM (#35844982)
Sorry, but what is the difference? "To utilize" is literally defined as "to use".
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Wikipedia users edits over 90k uses of “comprised of” by alasdair_ on Saturday May 06, 2023 @04:32PM (#35845132)
"utilize" - the teacher wasn't able to use the computers for the intended purpose of teaching the children.

"use" - the teacher was unable to operate the computer at all (maybe they couldn't use the mouse, for example).

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Wikipedia users edits over 90k uses of “comprised of” by jmholla on Sunday May 07, 2023 @01:12AM (#35848132)
No part of your example indicated the intent was to use the computers to teach children. Teachers can teach adults and they can use computers to do other things. In your examples, excepting your hidden intent, they were synonyms. Do you have a better example demonstrating this?
[ Parent | on HN ]