Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[www0935]

Can I say "consuming habit" or "consumption habit" instead of "spending habit"?

Thanks for help.

[dragn]

Hi,

Offhand, I would say no. I don't know the context, but it's very hard for me to imagine a situation where either consuming habit or consumption habit would sound even marginally acceptable, if spending habit is what you mean. Spending habit would be the phrase to use in any context I can think of.

If you talk about someone's spending habit, you are presumably talking about the ways they spend money. No problem.

If you called it a consuming habit, that would have a completely different meaning that I suspect you are unaware of. If some activity is consuming, it occupies the majority of your time and attention; it's all you think about; you spend time doing it to the exclusion of other things. It takes over your life. It's as if it were eating you up--it consumes you.

Wendy was becoming addicted to online computer games. She reached the point where she was playing 8 to 10 hours a day, and was neglecting her studies and other social activities. She just couldn't kick this consuming habit.

Consumption habit just sounds wrong if you mean spending habit. If someone said this, I would assume they were emphasizing the ways a person consumed something. If you consume something, you eat, drink or use up your supply of it. Yes, that typically requires that you spend some money; however, that would not be the emphasis.

Hope this helps.

Greg

[www0935]

Hi, Greg:
I am sorry for not providing the necessary context.
My sentence is the following. "The decling economy changes many people's [b]spending habits [/b]and forces them to find new ways to make ends meet."

Thanks again.