Dont mean to be picky or Pedantic , but...

[Xenophon]

it's you who is confused

Actually it is me who is confused.

[Spacecadet]

no it isn't

it's you who is confused

enlighten me... why is not a fossil?

[Xenophon]

enlighten me... why is not a fossil?

WHS

[EternalOptimist]

Amber is organic. It comes from trees or plants and it runs and it is sticky, while it is still runny, it can trap stuff, just like in Jurassic park.
It sets to become a polymer or biological plastic , and it is biodgradable. If it is protected from the elements it can survive a very long time, but it is still biodgradable.
It may be known as fossil amber, but it is not actually a fossil. The definition of a fossil is something that has been turned to stone, petrification is just one way that can happen, definately not the only one though.

[Spacecadet]

Amber is organic. It comes from trees or plants and it runs and it is sticky, while it is still runny, it can trap stuff, just like in Jurassic park.
It sets to become a polymer or biological plastic , and it is biodgradable. If it is protected from the elements it can survive a very long time, but it is still biodgradable.
It may be known as fossil amber, but it is not actually a fossil. The definition of a fossil is something that has been turned to stone, petrification is just one way that can happen, definately not the only one though.

[expat]

Originally Posted by Bob Dalek
I don't mean to be picky or pedantic, but words with "ise", sounding like "ize", should, in fact, be spelled with "ize".

e.g. fossilized.

From what I know, that seems to be a matter of debate.

Everything about language is. The gist of this one is:
View A: -ise is common practice in the UK, -ize in the USA. As with most British-American differences, the reason for this is that we British tend to spell things the way that Samuel Johnson thought was right when he wrote his dictionary, whereas Americans tend to follow the way that Noah Webster thought was right when he wrote his dictionary.

View B: the younger generation spend more time with American media than with their English teachers, so it is not surprising that they tend to follow American practise (sic).

View C: the -ize ending comes from ancient Greek, and has been changed to -ise by the French, so there is no need for us to adopt it. Or alternatively, the latinised (French) version is truer to the origins of our language... Whatever, -ize is closer to the original Greek.

[Bob Dalek]

Amber is organic. It comes from trees or plants and it runs and it is sticky, while it is still runny, it can trap stuff, just like in Jurassic park.
It sets to become a polymer or biological plastic , and it is biodgradable. If it is protected from the elements it can survive a very long time, but it is still biodgradable.
It may be known as fossil amber, but it is not actually a fossil. The definition of a fossil is something that has been turned to stone, petrification is just one way that can happen, definately not the only one though.

definitely