SOTD : Saturday 1st January-Friday 7th January 2022.

No - they speak English like us. The international language of business!

The screen grabs you posted earlier raise an interesting point though. Online dictionaries are predominantly American English. The Oxford English Dictionary is hidden behind a paywall. I see American English much more frequently now in work communications.
 

Afternoon, Gents! Today's (Head) Shave.
Merkur Slant, Nacet #forgot, Arko Stick
Yaqi Jumbo & Alum to finish.
Stick applied straight to wet stubble.
Soap worked in & up with wetted brush.
Multiple passes with the grain.
Cold water rinse, polished off w/alum.
Blade palm stropped & edges oiled;
still good for couple more shaves!
Result? ✌
 
Sorry Bill, my post in this thread probably brought you to the wrong week.
 
Thank you my friend. I’m confident Wednesday will be a positive day for you. Don’t ask why, I just know it will be. Regards Brian
 
Boycie83 said:
@TobyC : Nice try - it's spelt 'realised'
Click to expand...

-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization)[edit]​

See also: Oxford spelling

Origin and recommendations[edit]​

The -ize spelling is often incorrectly seen as an Americanism in Britain. It has been in use since the 15th century, predating -ise by over a century.[51] -ize comes directly from Greek -ιζειν -izein and Latin -izāre, while -ise comes via French -iser.[52][53] The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) recommends -ize and lists the -ise form as an alternative.[53]

Publications by Oxford University Press (OUP)—such as Henry Watson Fowler's A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, Hart's Rules,[54] and The Oxford Guide to English Usage[55]—also recommend -ize. However, Robert Allan's Pocket Fowler's Modern English Usage considers either spelling to be acceptable anywhere but the US.[56] Also, Oxford University itself does not agree with the OUP and advocates -ise instead of -ize in its staff style guide.[57]

Usage[edit]​

American spelling avoids -ise endings in words like organize, realize and recognize.[58]

British spelling mostly uses -ise (organise, realise, recognise), though -ize is sometimes used.[58] The ratio between -ise and -ize stood at 3:2 in the British National Corpus up to 2002.[59] The spelling -ise is more commonly used in UK mass media and newspapers,[58] including The Times (which switched conventions in 1992),[60] The Daily Telegraph, The Economist and the BBC. The Government of the United Kingdom additionally uses -ise, stating "do not use Americanisms" justifying that the spelling "is often seen as such".[61] The -ize form is known as Oxford spelling and is used in publications of the Oxford University Press, most notably the Oxford English Dictionary, and of other academic publishers[62] such as Nature, the Biochemical Journal and The Times Literary Supplement. It can be identified using the IETF language tag en-GB-oxendict (or, historically, by en-GB-oed).[63]

In Canada, the -ize ending is more common, whereas in Ireland, India, Australia, and New Zealand,[64] -ise spellings strongly prevail: the -ise form is preferred in Australian English at a ratio of about 3:1 according to the Macquarie Dictionary.

The same applies to derivatives and inflections such as colonisation/colonization, or modernisation/modernization.

Worldwide, -ize endings prevail in scientific writing and are commonly used by many international organizations, such as the United Nations Organizations (such as the World Health Organization and the International Civil Aviation Organization) and the International Organization for Standardization (but not by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development). The European Union's style guides require the usage of -ise.[65] Proofreaders at the EU's Publications Office ensure consistent spelling in official publications such as the Official Journal of the European Union (where legislation and other official documents are published), but the -ize spelling may be found in other documents.

Exceptions[edit]​

Some verbs ending in -ize or -ise do not come from Greek -ιζειν, and their endings are therefore not interchangeable:

  • Some words take only the -z- form worldwide, for example capsize, seize (except in the legal phrases to be seised of or to stand seised to), size and prize (only in the sense of winning, not as forcing open with a lever). These, however, do not contain the suffix -ize.
  • Others take only -s- worldwide: advertise, advise, arise, chastise, circumcise, comprise, compromise, demise, despise, devise, disguise, excise, exercise, franchise, guise, improvise, incise, reprise, revise, rise, supervise, surmise, surprise, televise, and wise. Some of these do not contain the suffix -ise, but some do.
  • One special case is the verb to prise (meaning "to force" or "to lever"), which is spelled prize in the US[66] and prise everywhere else,[67] including Canada,[12] although in North American English it is almost always replaced by pry, a back-formation from or alteration of prise, to avoid confusion with the more common meaning of the word "prize".[12] A topsail schooner built in Australia in 1829 was called Enterprize, whereas there have been US ships and spacecraft named "Enterprise".
Some words spelled with -ize in American English are not used in British English, etc., e.g., the verb burglarize, regularly formed on the noun burglar, where the equivalent in British, and other versions of English, is the back-formation burgle and not burglarise.[68]

-yse, -yze[edit]​

The ending -yse is British and -yze is American. Thus, in British English analyse, catalyse, hydrolyse and paralyse, but in American English analyze, catalyze, hydrolyze and paralyze.

Analyse was the more common spelling in 17th- and 18th-century English. Some dictionaries of the time however preferred analyze, such as John Kersey's of 1702, Nathan Bailey's of 1721 and Samuel Johnson's of 1755. In Canada, -yze is preferred, but -yse is also very common. In South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, -yse is the prevailing form.

English verbs ending in either -lyse or -lyze are not similar to the original Greek verb, which is λύω lýo ("I release"). Instead, they come from the noun form λύσις lysis, with the -ise or -ize suffix. For example, analyse comes from French analyser, formed by haplology from the French analysiser,[69] which would be spelled analysise or analysize in English.

Hart's Rules for Compositors and Readers at the University Press, Oxford states: "In verbs such as analyse, catalyse, paralyse, -lys- is part of the Greek stem (corresponding to the element -lusis) and not a suffix like -ize. The spelling -yze is therefore etymologically incorrect, and must not be used, unless American printing style is being followed."[54]
 
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