From Newsgroup: rec.arts.comics.strips

On Mon, 12 Jan 2026 19:53:39 -0500 (EST), kludge@panix.com (Scott
Dorsey) wrote:

Cryptoengineer <petertrei@gmail.com> wrote:

On 1/9/2026 9:28 PM, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:

I read somewhere that we get the THE in "he's in the hospital"
and other inclusions of the definite article by way of the Irish, or
Irish immigrants anyway.

I have a unresearched notion that the distinction in the US is
whether the location referred to has an abstract meaning
independent of a particular physical structure, or whether
you're trying to talk about a particular instance.

It gets weirder in the case of surgery. It used to be that a person
"was in the surgery" when they were having an operation there. Then
they "were in surgery" through the same kind of transformation of the >article.

But now, THAT has been transformed into "he's having a surgery" in which >"surgery" has come to mean the procedure instead of the facility. I
don't know how the hell that one came about.

I suggest that "were in surgery" /could/ be interpreted as "being
operated on" (or perhaps "were operating on") rather than "being in
the facility". "having a surgery" would then follow naturaly from
"were in surgery".
--
"Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"
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From Newsgroup: rec.arts.comics.strips

On Sat, 10 Jan 2026 12:22:12 +1300, Your Name wrote:

You mean "economise" ...

There are words which get rCL-izerCY via French, e.g. rCLeconomizerCY, rCLrealizerCY, rCLutilizerCY, and there are ones which donrCOt, e.g. rCLadvertiserCY, rCLteleviserCY, rCLmerchandiserCY.

Some of us can tell the difference, even in the UK ...
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From Newsgroup: rec.arts.comics.strips

On 2026-01-15 06:22:15 +0000, Lawrence D|Oliveiro said:

On Sat, 10 Jan 2026 12:22:12 +1300, Your Name wrote:

You mean "economise" ...

There are words which get rCL-izerCY via French, e.g. rCLeconomizerCY, rCLrealizerCY, rCLutilizerCY, and there are ones which donrCOt, e.g. rCLadvertiserCY, rCLteleviserCY, rCLmerchandiserCY.

Some of us can tell the difference, even in the UK ...

The US uses 'z' ("economise") for some words and not others, the UK
uses 's' ("economise") for all such words.

Nothing to do with French, although that may well be were it started
centuries ago. The French words usually use 's', but when hijacked into English, the sound as spoken meant it was replaced by a 'z' in the
written form. British English eventually fixed the mistake, but America
sticks to ye olde version.

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From Newsgroup: rec.arts.comics.strips

On Fri, 16 Jan 2026 10:14:46 +1300, Your Name wrote:

On 2026-01-15 06:22:15 +0000, Lawrence D-|Oliveiro said:

Some of us can tell the difference, even in the UK ...

The US uses 'z' ("economise") for some words and not others, the UK
uses 's' ("economise") for all such words.

From
<https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/spelling-spotlight-when-to-use-ize-and-ise/> (note that is a UK-based site):

It is a common belief that -ize is an Americanism and the British
is -ise: recognize rather than recognise. That if you spell with a
-ize, that this is an American spelling. But for most verbs,
either way is correct in British English and the -ize ending has
been in use in English since the 16th century. If the word came
into English with its origin in the Greek root -izo, then it can
be spelt -ize.
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From Newsgroup: rec.arts.comics.strips

On 2026-01-16 00:55:49 +0000, Lawrence D|Oliveiro said:

On Fri, 16 Jan 2026 10:14:46 +1300, Your Name wrote:

On 2026-01-15 06:22:15 +0000, Lawrence D-|Oliveiro said:

Some of us can tell the difference, even in the UK ...

The US uses 'z' ("economise") for some words and not others, the UK
uses 's' ("economise") for all such words.

From <https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/spelling-spotlight-when-to-use-ize-and-ise/> (note that is a UK-based site):

It is a common belief that -ize is an Americanism and the British
is -ise: recognize rather than recognise. That if you spell with a
-ize, that this is an American spelling. But for most verbs,
either way is correct in British English and the -ize ending has
been in use in English since the 16th century. If the word came
into English with its origin in the Greek root -izo, then it can
be spelt -ize.

As I said (as was snipped), "z" is ye olde English, but has been
replaced by "s" in the UK and other proper *English* speaking
countries. There are of course some people who still use the
now-"incorrect" version, mainly Americans and the oldies.

Look up any dictionary and it will say something along the lines of "economise" being the UK spelling and "economize" being the US spelling.



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From Newsgroup: rec.arts.comics.strips

On Fri, 16 Jan 2026 18:42:03 +1300, Your Name wrote:

As I said (as was snipped), ...

You said no such thing.

... "z" is ye olde English ...

ThatrCOs not what the article said.

... but has been replaced by "s" in the UK and other proper
*English* speaking countries.

Ah, I see. So who is the arbiter of this thing wotrCOs rCLproperrCY, eh?
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From Newsgroup: rec.arts.comics.strips

On 2026-01-16 05:52:26 +0000, Lawrence D-|Oliveiro said:

On Fri, 16 Jan 2026 18:42:03 +1300, Your Name wrote:

As I said (as was snipped), ...

You said no such thing.

... "z" is ye olde English ...

ThatrCOs not what the article said.

... but has been replaced by "s" in the UK and other proper
*English* speaking countries.

Ah, I see. So who is the arbiter of this thing wotrCOs rCLproperrCY, eh?

Whatever. :-\



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