Editor's Corner

Lately, I’ve been seeing a phrase that affects me like strobe lights after having my eyes dilated. I yell, “Aggghhhh!” and then I throw my hands over my eyes. What is this phrase and is it incorrect? The phrase I’m talking about is “associate to.” I was just listening to a LinkedIn® Learning course, and I heard it spoken by the instructor. Again, my physical reaction was the same as hearing fingernails on a chalkboard. I decided it was time to see the definitive answer on this.

I looked at many resources, but none of them were sites I trusted. I read the examples in a couple of dictionaries and all of them used “associate with.” Some grammar sites said it is always “associate with,” not “associate to.”

But then, there were some outliers. One site, Grammar Learns, doesn’t come out and say “associate to” is wrong. It just says that it is not the common choice, nor is it the most sensible choice. The description of the prepositions is key: “…with expresses connection or relationship, which matches the meaning of the word ‘associated’. In contrast, to implies direction, destination, or movement.”

That explanation and the gut-wrenching pain “associate to” causes when I see or hear it is enough for me. I am sticking with the dictionary and those who say it’s incorrect. But here are a couple more explanations, just to show you that I’m giving it a fair chance.

The same site (Grammar Learns) and a few others that I read mention that non-English languages often use “to” with their equivalent of “associate.” That’s nice, but that absolutely does not mean it is correct in English. Related sites mention that Google™ and other translating entities translate “associate with” incorrectly. Again, that doesn’t mean it is acceptable.

On Stack Exchange, someone says “’Associated to’ would occasionally be acceptable when speaking about certain IT concepts.” But then another respondent says they’ve been in IT and writing for 15 years and that “associated to” would cause confusion. Another person argues against it and suggests that maybe it is seen in programming because there are many people in programming whose first language is not English.

For our purposes, I completely recommend and stand by “associate with” for use in our documentation. Here are some examples, just for your viewing pleasure:

Yes: I associate the color purple with Mom’s favorite purse.

No: I associate the color purple to Mom’s favorite purse.

Correct: This version of the software is associated with our new wire module.

Incorrect: This version of the software is associated to our new wire module.

Yeah, baby: When I worked at that company, we were associated with local hospitals.

Please, no, for the sake of all that is holy: When I was at that company, we were associated to local hospitals.

Argument concluded.

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Knowledge Enablement

Pronouns: she/her | Call via Teams | jackhenry.com

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