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

On Fri, 13 Oct 2000, I. David Brown wrote:

> 
> >   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.

There are rules about things like this, but as with many aspects of the
language the rules are not hard and fast, and exceptions are abundant.
American usage for polarize is the same as the _preferred_ English use; my
copy of the Oxford English Dictionary says you can use polarise, but
should really use a "z"; it also says that it's adapted from the French,
which uses "s" in polarisation. 

Harry 
-- 
Dr Harry Powell, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, MRC Centre, Hills
Road, Cambridge, CB2 2QH

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