Same reason I cringe when people use “as per” where a single “as” or “per” will do (per means as), “thusly” instead of “thus”, and, my personal anti-favorite, “individual” to mean “person”.
It’s a special kind of pretentious language that people use to make them seem more authoritative or accurate/deliberate. It’s manipulative.
It's the same for me when someone says, or writes, "as of late" instead of "lately". Sometimes people think that more words make their writing more professional, but it's usually the opposite. Sentences that are more polished and concise are the hallmark of professional writers.
Same reason I cringe when people use “as per” where a single “as” or “per” will do (per means as), “thusly” instead of “thus”, and, my personal anti-favorite, “individual” to mean “person”.
It’s a special kind of pretentious language that people use to make them seem more authoritative or accurate/deliberate. It’s manipulative.
For me "leverage" instead of "use" is like nails on a chalkboard.
- usage instead of "use" (they are different words)
- quantify/fication instead of "measure/ment"
- problematic instead of "a problem"
- such that instead of "that" (the correct usage is as a phrase that comes from math proofs, "pick an x such that y")
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"utilize"
It's the same for me when someone says, or writes, "as of late" instead of "lately". Sometimes people think that more words make their writing more professional, but it's usually the opposite. Sentences that are more polished and concise are the hallmark of professional writers.
I also cringe at that phrase, so you're not alone. It seems particularly prevalent among police officers. I guess it's just part of "police English."
Every group has its own language and jargon, used to signal group membership. It doesn't have to make sense grammatically or logically.