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Search engines are practically as old as the web (about 1995), while Google came later in around 1999. Once its patent for its algorithm expires it will probably cease to be the only search engine worth using when others like Yahoo and Microsoft will start to use it. However, personally I am upset about the popularity of ise. I am sure that in my youth as an "ise" user, I belonged to an exclusive elite minority. Now it seems I'm just one of the herd :(.
Hi JD As you will note, the rest of my posting agreed with your main point. I am delighted that I can now stop worrying about changing my -ises to -izes. I find the latter looks harsh and spiky, while -ise is somehow gentler and easier on the eye. As for any Chinese connection, the fact that Google has been working closely with the State Department, leads me to wonder whether China might just possibly have some sort of legitimate point. However, I use Google all the time even though I am vaguely aware of other search engines out there.
Hi BD I've been refining my search engine techniques for researching language for nearly fifteen years now. Clearly it is of utmost importance (in my technicque that is) to read the pages you find and not just count the numbers. Obviously many people feel that two million "Ghits" (I hate the word) is sufficient justification for a translation or for example for writing "potatos" (sic) which gets 800,000 Google hits. Google is an extremely powerful tool (you probably used it to find the style guides), however if people misuse a tool, it is unfair to blame the tool and unwise to deprecate use of the tool completely.
J Davis requests an explanation. Well, his Google technique will have picked up the spellings in quotations, readers' letters and online comments plus (sometimes '00s of) multiple instances of the same citation. Far more reliable to go to directly to the Style Guide:
There is an interesting discussion on http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/13/messages/785.htm... The author considers Oxford old-fashioned but has this to say: "...the newer spelling in -ise is now widespread in Britain and is preferred in other quarters. British writers may use whichever spelling they prefer, unless they are writing for a publishing house which insists upon one or the other." However, though he argues for consistency, he also gives examples of necessary inconsistencies.
Can you explainBD please? It is Google that informs us what the Times and the rest of the world is doing, letting us know who is in both the minority and the majority.
And just when you think it might be cut and dried (use -ise in UK English, -ize in US English), you remember words like exercise, advertise, compromise, which AFAIK are always spelled with an S, even in the US.
To quote Fowler: " Most English printers follow the French practice of changing -ize to -ise; but the OED ... come out the Encyclopaedia Britannica ..., The Times, & American usage, in all of which-ize is the accepted form, carry authority enough to outweigh superior numbers."
However, as Fowler also notes, there are particular words that must use -ise e.g. "advertise, apprise, chastise, circumcise, compromise ..." because of their etymology. "The difficulty of remembering which these -ise verbs are is in fact the only reason for making -ise universal, & the sacrifice of significance to ease does not seem justified."
I was surprised by the wiki statement that "ise" is now the more common usage, but Google seems to confirm it. However, my 90s edition of the SOE dictionary gives the entry "Specialize ... also ise". I wonder if later versions will (or perhaps have aligned) align with usage. site:timesonline.co.uk specialise site:timesonline.co.uk specialize
This issue has been discussed this week on the Institute of Linguists forum in relation to the Diploma in Translation exams. The consensus seems to be for consistency (i.e. don't chop and change between -ise and -ize in the same text), but both -ise and -ize are correct in UK English at least. From wikipedia: "In the last few decades, the suffix -ise has become the usual spelling in the UK. Although many people therefore incorrectly regard -ize as an Americanism, the form -ize has been in use in English since the 16th century.[1] The use of -ize instead of -ise does not affect the spelling of words ending in -yse, which are spelt analyse, paralyse and catalyse in line with standard British usage."
I believe US English always uses the Z spelling. However there are two spellings in the UK with S and Z. The S spelling is used by Cambridge University and the Z spelling by Oxford University so UK writers are free to choose. For example the headmaster of my school went to Cambridge University and consequently I learned the S spelling (it is the minority spelling). The Oxford English Dictionary always gives the Z spelling with the S spelling as an alternative.
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Answers
3 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): +9
specialised
Explanation: Credo che sia
specialized - EN-US specialised - EN-GB
Susanna Garcia Local time: 01:38 Works in field Native speaker of: English
peer agreement (net): +9