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Re: More thoughts on polarization, divergence, time-stamps in CBF


>   My apologies for my persistent use of "polarisation", rather than
> "polarization".  Would some native English-English speaker care to add
> some colour to the discussion and analyse the roots of the word.  

I am not sure that there is any clear rule here.  Some words use s some
use z and for some there is a choice.  I arbitrarily decided some years
ago to use s throughout for consistency and this has produced some
protest.  I have heard some people claim that z in American usage and
others that z is English usage.

I checked my Oxford English Dictionary (definitely English usage) and it
gives polarize (with no alternative) and analyse (again with no
alternative).  Random House and Webster (the architypal American
dictionary) agree with polarize but give analyze, with Webster also
including analyse with the comment 'chiefly British usage'.  One can take
one's pick with analyz/se but, Herbert, you and I will have to mend our
ways on polarize.

			David

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Dr.I.David Brown,  Professor Emeritus
Brockhouse Institute for Materials Research, 
McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Tel: 1-(905)-525-9140 ext 24710
Fax: 1-(905)-521-2773
idbrown@mcmaster.ca
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