Time to Ban "Utilize" From the English Language

For years I've been seething about the incredibly common use of the awkward, flow-breaking, three-syllable word "utilize".  It pops up everywhere in conversation and on the written page.  I came across this linguistic black head five times in the New York Times Op-Ed section this morning and that prompts this post.

Why the hell is "u-til-ize" spoken and written so often when a simple, one-syllable, three letter word works so much better?  Is it bureaucratic or academic pretentiousness at fault?  A disdain for the simple?  I don't know, but I do know that substituting "use" in its place drops any hint of pretentiousness or complexity.

There is, properly, a use for "utilize".  That is when the speaker or writer intends to modify the word "use" with "profitably", or "constructively"; e.g., "I brought the wrong tools so I couldn't utilize my time."  But "utilize" is used wrongly so frequently that the proper distinction between the two words is now lost.  As a result I think it would be better to go with "I brought the wrong tools so I couldn't use my time effectively".

Come on folks, it's time to stop utilizing "utilize" when a simple "use" will do just fine.