A quick rant on spelling. And a plea.

(Apologies in advance to Americans, you won't understand)

It is official, I am turning into my father as I get older.
The most recent proof this week was as I read the new Christmas advertising on the Duxton Hotel's signage (one of the larger hotels in Wellington), and became incensed, due to:

'Organize Christmas Function'

This is obviously a to-do list for getting something done for Christmas. Fair enough, it's getting to that time of the year after all.
There is just one problem - 'organize' is not a word.
The word you would use (being a New Zealander, speaking English, language originating from England) is 'organise'.

Alas, we have merged American 'English' into our language, so we have -ize and -or; and no longer have -ise and -our.
It's logical if you think about it - which word processing software do we write with? MS Word probably. And what does it always (incessantly) default to? English (U.S.)

Even as I write the word 'organise' it is marked as incorrect by the browser; a polite little red underline telling me something is wrong.
It is inescapable.

So I implore you to stay eternally vigilant and keep New Zealand safe. Save me from becoming my father (though if you've met my father you might say that it is far far too late).

PS:
I have recently noticed my bible to be written in American English too! I'm sure St Paul didn't spell organise with a 'z', he did things properly. Yeah...

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