Re: Typo.

[dewar@gnat.com (Robert Dewar)]

>>"optimised" is the correct British English spelling.

This is a common misconception, but it is that, a misconception. While the
's' spellings are definitely standard in Australia, in England there is
still considerably unclarity on this issue. In particular, the OED second
edition lists ONLY the 'z' spelling and does not even recognize the
possibility of the 's' spelling (optimise) as an acceptable alternative.

It is indeed the case that many educated british writers use the 's' spelling
and for example the Economist usually seems to prefer the 's' spelling (a
fact implicitly recognized in the OED, since there is a quote from the
Economist with the 's' spelling).

So it is a bit over-reaching to say that optimise is wrong, whatever the
OED says, but to declare that "optimise" is *the* correct British English
spelling is also definitely over-reaching.

The bottom line is that you should always use the 'z' spelling for all
these words all the time, and you are then not wrong in either American
or British usage.

This is of course off-topic, but since documentation styles and rules are
at least remotely connected, it is useful for people to know this. I often
find that non-british writers are the most adamant in making the above
claim (sort of like the French being adamant in stating that upper case
letters do not have accents in French).