Tamar,

You say:

Avoid the word "utilize." There's no situation in which "utilize" is a better choice than "use."

also while you're at it could you add to the article:

Avoid the word "basically." There's no situation in which "basically" makes any difference to the sense of the sentence.


>>The moronic rule of thumb would appear to be "if the sentence requires a pronoun, replace it with one of those pronouns with 'self/selves' on the end"
>
>Yeah, drives me nuts, too. Here's what I have about this on my website (http://www.tomorrowssolutionsllc.com/writingtips.htm):
>
>Don't abuse the "self" words. These words ("myself," "yourself," etc.) belong in a sentence only if the corresponding pronoun has already appeared. For example, this is correct:
>
>"I'll take care of it myself."
>
>But this is wrong:
>
>"He had a meeting with John and myself."
>
>That should be:
>
>"He had a meeting with John and me."
>
>Tamar