# S or Z? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 5, 2002, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/s-or-z/101974 "2002-04-05T08:58:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![EricHansen007](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a698b9/32.png) [@EricHansen007](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EricHansen007)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2002, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/s-or-z/101974/1 "2002-04-05T08:58:45Z")
Does anyone know why Americans use a ‘Z’ (as in organization) and the English use an ‘S’? I imagine that the ‘z’ is the ‘original’ use, and us colonists never progressed to the ‘s’. As an ex-pat in London, I’m constantly having to correct myself on this… Wishing all well, E ---
**Author:** ![kuroashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e9a140/32.png) [@kuroashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kuroashi)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2002, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/s-or-z/101974/2 "2002-04-05T09:13:32Z")
screw 'em It was all part of the new American English movement made by Webster to spell words the way they sound. Luckily he didn’t get too far or we’d be spelling werdz rilly straynjlee. Another example is “sulphur” changing to “sulfer.” Brits say to me that it looks silly to spell “synchronize” with a “z” and if there’s confusion, then a “double s” makes it clear. I think Webster did alright in this category because that logic makes little sense. When I look at it now, I think it’s a leftover of trying to spell words with odd idiosyncracies like you find in writings of the wealthy landed 300 years ago. Sorry, I’m not saying Brits are insufferably stodgy. But I’m happy that when I talk to friends from Blackpool and Bath, I don’t have to read what they’re saying to me. ---
**Author:** ![EricHansen007](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a698b9/32.png) [@EricHansen007](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EricHansen007)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2002, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/s-or-z/101974/3 "2002-04-05T09:22:54Z")
Makez zenze to me. I’m actually pleased to hear that it is a post-colonisation (oops) initiative. Languages are meant to develop, after all… Domo arigato (sp?) ---
**Author:** ![kuroashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e9a140/32.png) [@kuroashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kuroashi)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2002, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/s-or-z/101974/4 "2002-04-05T10:30:11Z")
Domo arigato? What’s that? Jeez, they really ARE spelling things differently over there, I don’t even recognize that! 😕 😃 (Do itashimashite) ---
**Author:** ![EricHansen007](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a698b9/32.png) [@EricHansen007](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EricHansen007)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2002, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/s-or-z/101974/5 "2002-04-05T10:47:29Z")
Sorry, got it from an old Styx tune (Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto). Thought it meant ‘thank you’. Oh well, it’s the thought that counts… ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2002, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/s-or-z/101974/6 "2002-04-05T10:47:54Z")
The -ize ending of verbs comes from that spelling in Greek. For example, _ **synchronize** _ in Greek would be **[symbol]suncronizein[/symbol]** _synkhronizein_. The ending **-[symbol]izein[/symbol]** (note the letter **[symbol]z[/symbol] zeta**) used in Greek for converting a noun or adjective into a verb, always had **z** from the beginning. The American spelling is the more authentic. The question should be why the medieval French had to go and change it to **s**. The British are copying the medieval French spelling, while Webster returned to the classical **z** of Greek and Latin. Even the Brits spell _baptize_ (\<[symbol]baptizw[/symbol]) with z, don’t they? So why not all the other Greek-derived words? ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2002, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/s-or-z/101974/7 "2002-04-05T11:01:58Z")
Actually, “-ize” is, historically, the preferred spelling in British English, in many cases. The current popularity of “-ise” endings in British English is due to a train of thought (I won’t call it “reasoning”, because it isn’t) that goes roughly as follows:- 1. You can spell some words “-ise” or “-ize”. 2. Americans spell them “-ize”. 3. American spelling is, by definition, wrong. 4. Therefore, I will spell them “-ise”, and God Save the Queen. IIRC, there’s an episode of _Inspector Morse_ in which our eponymous detective deduces a don’s suicide note is a forgery, because it uses an “-ise” spelling. “But why wouldn’t he spell it -ise, sir?” “Because it’s _illiterate_, Lewis…” John Thaw was a sad loss. ---
**Author:** ![Another\_Primate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Another\_Primate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Another_Primate)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2002, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/s-or-z/101974/8 "2002-04-05T11:06:42Z")
Strange timing – Around 2 a.m., this very site was giving an error message telling me to hit refresh, etc., and I’d thought it was odd that the message used the word “apologise”… Did someone move Chicago to England?