Ending in -ize or -ise (as in eg civilise or civilize)

[Allen Crisp]

People keep complaining that using the -ize ending is an unwanted Americanism, but my Oxford dictionary seems to accept both as standard UK English. Years ago, someone explained to me that the correct ending depends on whether the word is of Latin or Greek derivation, but I can't really remember what their argument was. Any ideas?

[jno]

-ize is pretty much on its way out in Britain except for a few specific words (prize, eg). The Times used to insist on it, but it went over to -ise about 10 years ago. Neither is wrong or right, they're just different usages; -ize is more common in America, but it's not an Americanism as such - it was in use here before the first colonists went there. Some classics scholars make the Latin/Greek argument, but they're usually the ones who say television can't be a word because tele is Greek and vision is Latin.

[Quizmonster]

The old rule - and one still largely followed by The Oxford English Dictionary (the English word-�bible') as well as American usage - was that words derived from classical Greek with the letter zeta in their suffix were rendered �ize' in English...ie retained the �z'.
However, many modern publishers - including �The Times' newspaper, as J says above - prefer the Latinate and more modern �ise' for most such words. Thus, normal British usage has �organise', �apologise' and so on. Certain words - eg �capsize' - are never modified to have an �ise' ending. In the same way, there are others - such as �disguise', �analyse', �circumcise', �televise', �exercise' and �chastise' - which are never given an �ize' ending.
Apart from the exceptions mentioned above, you are basically free to use whichever form - ise/ize - you prefer! Only...be consistent.