[OT] spelling colour / color was Re: Toggle

[duncan smith]

On 11/10/14 12:45, mm0fmf wrote:
> On 11/10/2014 10:37, Christian Gollwitzer wrote:
>> Being a non-native English speaker/writer, I myself stick to the
>> recommendations of the Oxford dictionary.
>>
>>      Christian
> 
> But you do realise the Oxford dictionary is different to English usage
> and is renowned for using what is known as Oxford spelling? You wont
> find -ize used by the BBC in content for the UK nor will you find
> British newspapers using it.
> 

[snip]

I don't know about the BBC etc. but it pretty much corresponds to my
usage. I tend to use 'ize', but not for words like analyse (where for
whatever reason it just doesn't look right with a 'z' - maybe because
realization is fine but analyzis is not). I suspect some non-US English
speakers, when faced with the option, assume the 'z' might be a US
spelling and opt for the 's' instead. A useful rule of thumb perhaps,
that might make 's' common usage for e.g. the BBC / newspapers. But 'z'
is still used by some of us outside the media.

The media have their own quirks when it comes to English. The BBC
regularly use "top of" / "bottom of" in the sense of "start of" / "end
of", but I don't know any British people who would (currently) use that
in conversation. (This only started a few years ago, and the first time
I heard it I had to work out what it meant from context.)

Duncan