Rules for -ise and -ize

I thought the rule was rather about the language being American English vs. British English...

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I thought the same as well.

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According to the OED the correct suffix is -ize, because of the Greek root it comes from. -ise is a more modern British spelling, but originally both sides of the Atlantic used to spell it with a 'z'.

"Analyze" however is incorrect. It should always be spelt "analyse" because it's not derived from the same root.

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merchandise vs. merchandize

What will the merchants do?

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Red, "merchandise" isn't a verb that is arrived at by adding a suffix to a different root, so -ize is incorrect.

You could further distinguish words by their origin, e.g. if it's of French origin you could use -ise (in British English only) and -ize if it's of Greek etymology etc., but in being consistant, -ize should be used for all these verbal forms, and the nouns that are made form them: realize, realization; organize, organization. These can be spelled with -ise in British English, but worldwide -ize is used.

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To clarify, Oxford spelling is British English - just without the much later -ise Frenchism when -ize should be used. That said, I still don't know exactly which words should end with -ise vs -ize in Oxford spelling.

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Merchandise is a noun.

To merchandize is a verb.

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Red, I don't want to put words in someone else's mouth, but I think AClose's point is that merchandise as a verb may not have arisen by adding a verb ending -ise (or -ize) to the noun, merchant (and, er, changing the "t" to a "d"?). Instead, it may have come about by verbifying the noun, merchandise.

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I recognize that there are those who use -ise for both forms of the word, but its origins are just as unclear from what I have read.

Merchants were (are) the ones who merchandise, but the merchandise can refer to both the goods and the transaction and perhaps were one in the same.

I haven't been able to pin anything down, but the word may arose to communicate an exchange of goods for money (by merchants). This would be different from money changing (trading) and barter, which are money for money and goods for goods, respectively.

I think another piece of this puzzle is that merchandise may indicate mobility. Merchants typically travelled of old and usually moved goods from surplus areas to scarce areas. People who sold goods locally were usually the producers of those goods and referred to by that product (cooper, potter, etc.).

Well, now that we are well off-topic, who's looks to be a good prospect in spring training?

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I can't answer your question (well maybe I can) , but I can answer @Remek and @terence. Oxford English uses standard British spelling - colour etc, but American -ize verb endings, so it is different from standard BrE, where we have a choice -ise or -ize.

So I Imagine the z/s rule in Oxford English is exactly the same as American English and @NClose has probably hit it on the head.

Personally I use -ise as a matter of principle, and will continue to use 'merchandise' as both noun and verb. l've read somewhere that -ise is actually on the increase. Probably because just as Americans aren't too keen on British imports such as 'amongst' and 'forwards', we also like to keep our language identity, and -ise is one way we do it.

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I disagree with Oxford spelling's -ize being an Americanism (because it isn't). Oxford spelling has -ise endings for some words that end with -ize in American English. For instance, 'advertise' is spelled with -ise in Oxford spelling, which is 'advertize' in American spelling. Also, I think the original -ize Oxford spelling better preserves the language's identity than using the rather recent -ise Frenchism in words.

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@sigurd, you are no doubt right on point one, and I rather regretted having written that, but that is how it is often perceived in the UK. This from Wikipedia -

'In the last few decades, the suffix -ise has become the more common spelling in the UK. Many incorrectly regard -ize as American English, though it has been in use in English since the 16th century'.

But are you sure about 'advertize', which neither Merriam-Webster (US) nor my US spell check recognise?. This is listed in Wikipedia among those verbs that always take 's', whatever side of the Atlantic we live on. That's why I say the rules for z or s in Oxford English (as opposed to standard British English) and American English are probably exactly the same.

Verbs like this listed in Wikipedia include;
advertise, advise, apprise, arise, circumcise, comprise, compromise, demise, despise, devise, disguise, excise, exercise, franchise, guise, improvise, incise, merchandise, revise, rise, supervise, surmise, surprise, televise

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_Briti...

As for preserving the language's identity, that's a bit prescriptivist for my liking.

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The z vs s rules aren't the same. The -ize rule might be, but the -yze endings of American English, for example, are always spelled -yse in Oxford spelling.

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Generally, "-ise" is British (though I heard even in the UK, "realize" is correct), while "-ize" is American (except for "advertise", which is proper spelling in the US).

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Maybe there's some other affix ending knocking about in English which could be used instead of both -ise, ize? Ugly little buggers.

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now i'm surprized and confused

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To clarify, "analyze" is correct because it comes from a different root. "Analyse" is incorrect worldwide, except in Britain, where it is correct. Just remember the following rule: -ise is correct in Britain; -ize is correct everywhere else.

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Replacing the 's' with a 'z' came about as a result of Scrabble players being stuck with 10 point penalties at the end of games.

The OED lists both analyse (noun and verb) and analyze (verb), and includes a mention of ise and ize versions as now non-standard.

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Fower describes analyze/analyse as "... two equally indefensible forms that has won. The correct but now impossible form would be analysize (or analysise), with analysist for existing analyst."

Oddly, the Greek root means to "loosen up".

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