-ise/-ize

   Since about the time of Noah Webster, American users have been strongly inclined to use -ize terminations on verbs such as recognize and conceptualize', while in Britain -ise endings remain more common, even though the Oxford English Dictionary and many publishers and periodicals favor -ize. Even under the -ize system, though, and even in America, certain verbs continue always to end in -isey of which the following are the main ones: advertise, apprise, chastise, circumcise, comprise, compromise, demise, despise, devise, disguise, excise, exercise, franchise, improvise, incise, merchandise, reprise, supervise, surmise, surprise, televise.

   A separate issue concerns objections often raised by authorities to words like finalize, prioritize, and the aforementioned conceptualize. Although the English language has been forming such words for centuries-bastardize, for instance, dates from the 1500s-new formations almost always encounter sustained opposition. Strunk in 1935 attacked prioritize and customize. Gowers in 1965 expressed dislike for finalize, among many others. Several usage books in Britain continue to disdain hospitalize and burglarize, though most American authorities accept them without comment.

   The arguments brought against many of these formations can have an ironic ring, because what is elsewhere welcomed as a virtue-brevity-is suddenly considered not so important. Certainly there can be no denying that prioritize is shorter than "make a priority of" and hospitalize less cumbersome than "admit to a hospital." The only honest objection to such words is that they are jarring or faddish. The protests are more convincing where a short word already exists. There is no special excuse for moisturize when we already have moisten or for ftnalize when we have finish. The general principle, as with most matters of usage, should be that the word should not draw undue attention to itself by its novelty or air of contrivance.