V3.0.0 of the Microsoft Exclude Dictionary now available.

Many people consider the "ize" spelling of words to be American English and not Australian English. I've heard of academics marking students as being wrong for using "ize" spelling. I have many people applaud my work reclaiming the Australian English language and getting rid of the Americanisms.

The reality is far from any of the above. In Australia our language has evolved and both "ise" and "ize" and valid ways to spell words. So whether you use "organise" or "organize" you are correct.

To me however I think this is confusing. There are thousand of words in our language where there are two ways to spell the same word with the same meaning and that leads to inconsistency in documents and confusion for the next generation.

For OpenOffice.org users I produce the Kelvin version of the dictionary files which removes the secondary spelling variations so there is a single way to spell a word. This is a much cleaner and consistent way to work. It is actually what is known as a prescriptive way to spell.

But I can't replace the Microsoft dictionary. What I can do however is to provide an Exclude file which produces a similar result. For those who want "organize" to appear as a spelling error along with thousands of other similar words the Exclude file is for them. For those who want to use "ise" spelling because that is what their lecturers want, the Exclude file is for them. For those who want consistent spelling in their documents such as when they copy and paste work together, the Exclude file is for them. For those who want to make spelling simpler and more consistent for their children, the Exclude file is for them.

It is sometimes considered wrong to spell using the secondary spelling of a word, but it is not considered wrong to use the main spelling. It is always considered wrong to spell using different spelling of the same word in a document, and that happens very easily when copying and pasting work.

Check out the Exclude file and add polish to your written work.

Enjoy.

- Kelvin Eldridge