America!

[eroticartist]

I did not read beyond the first paragraph because the United States were not granted independence from British rule but won it by force of arms in the American War of Independence.
Mike Freeman.

[Steve R]

You are correct; you did indeed misunderstand it.

It means the exact opposite of what you interpreted it to mean.

[Jacques]

But why is 4th July 'Independance Day' when they didn't get actual independance until the Treaty of Paris was signed on September 3rd?

Is it just me or does that not make any sense?

[Trumpton]

UK = The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northen Ireland.

Britain = 'Great Britain' comprising England, Scotland, Wales - but not Northen Ireland.

[PondLife]

Oh well, I should never do anything before I have my usual six cups of morning coffee. At least we agree that ...ize and not ..ise is the more correct English form.

[Trumpton]

According to my Oxford English Dictionary that word is spelt 'realise'.

In British English 'ise' is used, whereas in what is known as "American" English they, for some unexplained reason, use 'ize'.

And by the way the last letter of the alphabet is "Zed" not "Zee".

[Steve R]

We do not agree, PondLife.

'-ise' is the correct English.

[crofter]

The funniest thing about this is that Cleese actually lives in the USA:



so "grass" and "greener" spring to mind.

I remember a family friend was in Holiday in Barbados years back and Cleese was also at the same resort, he said that most of the mannerisms and eccentric behaviour are not so much of an act as Cleese would have you believe and he is actually BONKERS.

[Sam Slater]

I prefer 'ise' to 'ize' but years of reading books by American authors/publishers I sometimes slip up.

Isn't the proper suffix to do with the words origin, (ie Greek/Latin origin)? So really were supposed to use both suffixes depending on the word used?

[PondLife]

I guess you haven't got a copy of The Concise Oxford Dictionary then.

I quote:


Realize (also -ise). [Then the meanings are given].

There is not an entry for Realise, other than this.

I thought ...ise was correct until I took a Masters' Degree and was told by the tutor in no uncertain terms to use the correct English form.

I realise (sic) that ...ise is commonly used, but it is not the primary correct English form.

For (sic) please see



On the other hand, analyze is American, whilst analyse is British.

Does anyone have a good dictionary on hand, to confirm the above?