People socialize at a party or on Facebook. Socialist governments socialize their economies. Sociologists speak of people being socialized into particular customs or groups. Animals can also be socialized. These are the main standard uses of “socialize.”
But people in the business world have developed a new meaning for “socialize”: to get people to agree with. Examples: “have them socialize the material with their work groups,” “we need to socialize the idea.” To nonspeakers of business jargon this sounds pretentious and silly.
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On the podcast this week, we continue our discussion of words related to government and politics, including “left/right,” “socialist,” and “communist.”
Book sale! Through the end of the year, buy the Common Errors in English Usage book now for $15 with free shipping in the US.
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