> On Fri, 21 Aug 1998 16:43:30 -0400 (EDT), Richard B. Johnson said:
> > One of the reasons the common spellings of words like
> > realise were changed to realize was to prevent printers from
> > spelling it like realife as they cheated to minimize
> > (minimife) the number of movable type.
>
> This sounds slightly unlikely, since, as the Concise Oxford Dictionary
> says, the "-ize" suffix has been in use since the 16th century and is
> not an "Americanism"; also, I don't think words such as advertise, surprise
> or exercise have ever been spelled with a "z" (that's "zed" (-: ).
>
Note: "olde English" was not in common use in America. The first American
dictionary was to be a dictionary of "common use". The replacement of
"s" with "z" had to do with the number of "s"es already present for
exactly the reason previously cited.
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, "History of Printing", that
every child who attended Grammar School in the '40s and '50s, was
required to learn.
> > combined letters such as "ae" and "fl" continued in
> > British English up until the First World War when type-
> > writers came into vogue. Typewriters forced a considerable
> > change in British English spelling, although early British
> > Typewriters had the "ae" letter, one of the diphthongs.
>
> The letters "fl" are of course still ligatured today when they appear in
> print, in both English and American texts. Also "fi" and "ff".
This is now done with "kerning" (altering spacing). When I was in a
Training School (read reform school) in the '50s, I worked as a Printer.
We printed, with real movable type, all the official documents and
stationery for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. We were required to
learn all this stuff because the Masters used corporal punishment.
There were no combined letters of any kind. When we had large letters,
larger than 18-point Century Schoolbook, we would sand the right-hand
edge of a capital "F" if it was followed by the "l". They had to touch
just like the lower-case.
And to Alan. There was a very concerted effort to improve the legibility
of printing by changing spelling. It continues even now. I don't have
any keys on my keyboard to even quote something the way it used to
be quoted in the '50s. Double quotes started at 66 and ended as 99.
Cheers,
Dick Johnson
***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****
Presidents take credit for good events during their
administration and other events are blamed upon their
predecessors. So Clinton can take credit for Viagra and the
problem with the girl and candy can be blamed upon Reagan
and his jelly beans.
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