The word “Americanism” seems to imply that it’s some crazy thing the Americans have decided to do, against all sense, as opposed to continuing to use the language in the same fashion it’s been used for hundreds of years. For example, I’ve heard “Authorise is the correct spelling; Americans just spell it ‘authorize’ because they like to be different” despite the British “authorise” being the common spelling for only about a century and the OED still recommending “authorize”.
-ize is something else, but most american spellings (not usage) really are the abrupt decision of Noah Webster. He was a nationalist and the theory that he was trying to create an american identity is poorly-attested but not insane.
The word “Americanism” seems to imply that it’s some crazy thing the Americans have decided to do, against all sense, as opposed to continuing to use the language in the same fashion it’s been used for hundreds of years. For example, I’ve heard “Authorise is the correct spelling; Americans just spell it ‘authorize’ because they like to be different” despite the British “authorise” being the common spelling for only about a century and the OED still recommending “authorize”.
-ize is something else, but most american spellings (not usage) really are the abrupt decision of Noah Webster. He was a nationalist and the theory that he was trying to create an american identity is poorly-attested but not insane.