Why do we spell licence / license differently?

[Masterdog]

Tautology

Always happy to learn a new word!

 

[VIRII]

Absolutely, depending on who it is who has died

It could refer to a Shakespearian death say perhaps "Corialanus" whose death was literally a tragedy.

/bad punnage. (Had to give it a shot though).

 

[Nikias]

Actually ise and ize are both legitimate British English, and ize used to be in common usage in Britain in the past. I believe ize was used here before it was used in America, and ise is a relatively recent change. Deadly Ferret favours the 'ize' usage today, as I recall

As do I and the OED. The -ise is a variation adopted into our language which is more common here than the original. Both are accepted.

The confusion arises because both are not accepted in the US, which means that many see the -ize as the 'American' spelling.

My gripe is with redundancy. "A tragic death", for example. Is there any other kind?

Of course. The deaths of Macbeth or Hamlet, Belisarius or Achilles might well be considered tragic. Most deaths are not tragic. They are often sad to several person, so sad death might possibly be a candidate for tautology, but even then as dirtydog points out, deaths don't always evoke sadness so it's a worthwhile description (depending on the context).

Oh, and people who say "it was literally..." and then something that it wasn't literally in any way. "He drank so much red bull he was literally climbing up the walls." (unless, of course, he was climbing up the walls, which is rare).
Anyway, this is getting OT now so I'll shut up.

Absolutely. Football commentators are especially bad for this.

E.g., DROGBA LITERALLY DESTROYED SENDEROS!!!!!

 

[Arcade Fire]

I continue to maintain that the ending '-ise' is an affectation that we in the UK assume because we want to appear different from our American cousins - especially since we standardized the spellings after colonization! It would minimize confusion all round if we all adopted the '-ize' ending - I only wish people would realize this.

I am similarly disgusted with whimsical Frenchifications like 'programme' instead of 'program', or 'analogue' instead of 'analog'. In both cases the latter is far more sensible.

 

[VIRII]

I continue to maintain that the ending '-ise' is an affectation that we in the UK assume because we want to appear different from our American cousins - especially since we standardized the spellings after colonization! It would minimize confusion all round if we all adopted the '-ize' ending - I only wish people would realize this.

I am similarly disgusted with whimsical Frenchifications like 'programme' instead of 'program', or 'analogue' instead of 'analog'. In both cases the latter is far more sensible.

To be fair to the French (blast their souls) they have had a far, far, far greater impact on our language than the Americans.

 

[Carzy]

Of course. The deaths of Macbeth or Hamlet, Belisarius or Achilles might well be considered tragic. Most deaths are not tragic. They are often sad to several person, so sad death might possibly be a candidate for tautology, but even then as dirtydog points out, deaths don't always evoke sadness so it's a worthwhile description (depending on the context).

Reminded me of:

We must not confuse tragedy -
well, the real tragedy of drama - with the merely tragic.



Let's a take a tragic hero,
Macbeth for instance.
We see that the flaw in his character forces him to take the inevitable step
towards his own doom.
Whereas, what we read in the newspaper
as being tragic - er, "man killed by falling tree" is not a tragedy.

It is for the poor sod under the tree.

- What are you laughing at?
- It's tragic, yes, absolutely tragic,

but it is not a tragedy
in the way that Macbeth is a tragedy.

Why?
Because the tree...

- I wish I could think like they do.
- It's quite easy, Rita.

Oh, it is for you, and them.

I just thought it was
a dead exciting story, Macbeth

But you lot, you see all sorts
of things in it, don't you?

It's fun, tragedy, isn't it?

Who'd have thought I'd actually remember reading that play in school haha.

 

[Scuzi]

How in god's name have you lot managed to take a thread about spelling to the brink of a race discussion? :/

Ho ho! Guess who too!

Stop the race discussion now.

 

[fumbles]

Americans

Blood American's they ruin everything...