Can we just retire "plethora"?
Smart people of the world: I know you are smart. No need to use this word. Let me introduce my good friends, “many” and “several.”
I kind of like “utilize.”
And how about “myriad” or “multitude”?
I will say that I’ve seen a few instances in which “utilize/d” worked better than “use/d.”
I like “multitude,” mostly because it’s not a “Hey, I’m being smart over here!” kind of word. “Myriad” is a little trickier — a friend wanted me to proof a letter he was writing to his girlfriend’s parents and he said they (he and his girlfriend) share a “plethora” of interests; when I pleaded with him to drop “plethora,” he asked if he could replace it with “myriad” and I nearly brained him. So, in other words: context is key. In a paper or an article, go ahead; but it’s too stiff outside of a professional context.
I don’t use plethora in my writing, but it feels good to say. You start out with a plosive and then you get not one, but two fricatives — the “l” and the “th” sound…feels good in the mouth.
