Appeal to the flist

[ginny_t]

Sometime in the history of this journal (3½ years!), one of my lovely friends commented with a link to a page explaining the "ise"/"ize" difference, which is not a US/UK difference, as you might think it would be.

Alas, the Ginny! is not as careful with these pretties as she ought to be, and has lost it. :/ I could go back and find it, but that would take a big ol' long time. Time that I could be knitting or drinking tea or …

So, anyone have a handy link on this? It's for my Ysa, although I'll certainly be happy to have it again—I promise to take better care of it this time.

[edit: Okay, a quick Google search reveals an excess of links. O_o So far, many of them are saying it's a US/UK thing, the US going with the Latin root, "ize", the UK influenced by the French, "ise". You know where my preference is going to be—sentimentality over tradition! *nodnod* (Also, it's easier to hit the S key than the Z key.) So, I guess this request is narrowed to a particular link (why, yes, needle, haystack, GO!). I'll give you a cookie.]

[edit 2: Or from the Greek? Confused now. Hello, can of worms, please all return to your place in an orderly manner.]

[edit 3: Hello, Serendipity, my old friend, good to see you again. abagond = SMART! Although as always, I find something I disagree with on the first page. *sigh* It's not easy being so opinionated. ^_~]

Comments

[edg.livejournal.com]

I don't know if it's the page you were thinking of, but the LEO forums have this to say on the matter. They also link to this AskOxford entry, which explains in (I think) more detail.

For what it's worth, the Latin root isn't actually a Latin root, it's a Latin borrowing of a Greek verbalizing ending (-ιζω); and the French is a borrowing of the Latin, only Frenchified (-izo to -iser). German has a similar borrowing, I believe.

[gruberman.livejournal.com]

Thumbing through the Canadian OED suggests an overwhelming preference for -ise in Canada.