Annual Forces Circus Time At Greyskull

[perthTam]

*sigh*

I know. Still, I don't think I've given the lecture on this version of the board. I'll try to keep it brief.

Nobby, the -ize suffix is not an Americanization. It was the standard form in British English until the mid 20th century. It is also the 'more correct' form.

The suffix comes originally from the Greek in which language it was was formed using the letter zeta (ζ) which transliterates into English as z. For some reason, the French form -ise started increasingly to appear in print following WWI, and it became the dominant form after WWII precisely because people assumed that -ize was an American import (the original form continued to be used in the States).

The better British publishing houses (eg: Oxford University Press, Faber) still use -ize, and the OED gives it as the primary spelling - if I look up, say, 'real...' in my 2008 edition of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary it states: "realize or realise". It was also, rather tellingly, the form used by the Times until that once proud journal was bought by Murdoch.

Never knew that - every day is a school day!

[Ormond]

*sigh*

I know. Still, I don't think I've given the lecture on this version of the board. I'll try to keep it brief.

Nobby, the -ize suffix is not an Americanization. It was the standard form in British English until the mid 20th century. It is also the 'more correct' form.

The suffix comes originally from the Greek in which language it was was formed using the letter zeta (ζ) which transliterates into English as z. For some reason, the French form -ise started increasingly to appear in print following WWI, and it became the dominant form after WWII precisely because people assumed that -ize was an American import (the original form continued to be used in the States).

The better British publishing houses (eg: Oxford University Press, Faber) still use -ize, and the OED gives it as the primary spelling - if I look up, say, 'real...' in my 2008 edition of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary it states: "realize or realise". It was also, rather tellingly, the form used by the Times until that once proud journal was bought by Murdoch.

Oh shite...... I hope my wife doesn't read this.