RE: Same language, two locales

From: Michael Everson (everson@egt.ie)
Date: Tue Sep 05 2000 - 08:00:42 EDT


Ar 16:40 -0800 2000-09-03, scríobh John Cowan:
>On Sun, 3 Sep 2000, Alistair Vining wrote:
>
>> Except that the Oxford dictionaries (and hence many UK users) have gone over
>> to -ize spellings, so you have to learn to ignore the false negatives and
>> search for the false positives...
>
>In this case it is the Americans and the Oxonians who preserve the
>traditional spelling of English words derived from Greek words in "-izein".
>The change "-ize" > "-ise" (doubtless by analogy with non-Greek words
>in "-ise" such as "advertise") is a 19th-century innovation.

Oxford notes that it is in imitation of French orthography.

It is really irritating that Oxford-orthography spell checkers are not
available from the vendors.

Michael Everson ** Everson Gunn Teoranta ** http://www.egt.ie
15 Port Chaeimhghein Íochtarach; Baile Átha Cliath 2; Éire/Ireland
Vox +353 1 478 2597 ** Fax +353 1 478 2597 ** Mob +353 86 807 9169
27 Páirc an Fhéithlinn; Baile an Bhóthair; Co. Átha Cliath; Éire



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