Re: Standardized English spelling

"Roy Stockdill" <roy.stockdill@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> sermonized:
<snip>
I care naught! "Standardized" smacks to me of an Americanism and I
shall continue to use the "s" as I have always done.

Poster "Roy Stockdill" (Ztockdill?<g>), I'm sure Fowler would support your
decision to do whatever you want to do when there are alternatives - and
sometimes perhaps even when there are not!

We are all products of our environment. Did you grow up with the notion
that -ise was English and -ize an Americanism? And therefore you resolutely
stick to -ise? Not to mention that it also serves to wind up some other
posters as does, from time to time, seem to engender a certain delight in a
certain poster ;- )

I grew up in Australia where the same prejudice applied i.e. that -ise was
English and 'correct' and that -ize was an unacceptable Americanism. So I
too was a prisoner of my environment. However, spending time in the
genealogical world taught me to open my eyes to other possibilities -
especially the fact that -ise in certain words is a neologism replacing the
earlier -ize. So now I'm quite mixed up but usually tend to use (where it's
not inappropriate) the -ize ending, and I strongly defend North Americans
with the unassailable argument that -ize is the earlier spelling.

There are many other spellings which I haven't looked into - for instance,
you have a Labour Party but we here in Australia have a Labor Party ...
And I guess you and I both have to grit our teeth and type in 'color' if we
use HTML (you said you don't like the -or endings; me too).

My pet peeve is "rationalized spelling" (simplified spelling or whatever).
I hate seeing spelling made simple and phonetic in such a way that it
totally obscures the etymology of words!

Regards,

JAP

.

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