Seems that the American pronunciation of the word (ŭ-lū-mĭ-nŭm/uh-loo-mih-num) has precedence (in time) by it own British coiner and it is more consistent with the pronunciation of the mineral "alumina" which, I doubt, is pronounced "al-yoo-min-uh) by the Brits (or is it?). What do you think? Interesting reading...
http://www.worldwidewords.org/articles/aluminium.htm
I always thought the real debate was not between the loo/yuu but weather or not the second 'i' should be there at all.
Both, really but I presumed everyone already new this so I left it implied.
Maybe easier to pronounce if we just call it 'Bauxite' from which the metal is derived.
Clearly it is aluminium, and the US spelling was corrupted in the 20th Century!
Matt
Quote from: Matt on December 06, 2014, 06:41:15 PMClearly it is aluminium, and the US spelling was corrupted in the 20th Century!
The article says "Noah Webster's Dictionary of 1828 has only "aluminum". This is not a corruption because the Americans were using a version of the name Davy himself used (after 1807) before he finally settled on "aluminium" in 1812. News didn't travel very fast over the Atlantic Ocean back then. By 1812, the Americans were at war with Britain and there probably wasn't much friendly communication going on between the two sides. It wasn't until the 20th Century that the average American was even aware of the metal because it took that long for products made out of it were very common. It's funny that the spell checker for this webpage wants to correct "aluminium" because it thinks its wrong. Does it do that on your side of the Atlantic Matt?
I think you missed the joke.
Time to make pizza!
I was only half joking. But it looks like I misread some of the dates. Maybe I should have said it became corrupted in the 19th Century, not the 20th :)
I'm in the US (but I'm from the UK). My browser (Chrome) seems happy with both 'aluminium' and 'aluminum'.
Matt
lol.
So proud! ;) Well "proper english" is rather nice to hear. But its hard to listen to through all those bad teeth
http://lh6.ggpht.com/JDNEWITT/SL9b4Mr6ZLI/AAAAAAAAAg0/SZ1f4qLXPaQ/s400/british%20teeth.jpg
You're making it too easy.
http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/british-teeth-arent-that-bad-american-teeth-are-far-worse/
And if you could see the charges for their services, you would understand why.
;D
It is interesting to note that Lanthanum, Molybdenum and Platinum are all names of elements that are recognized by British chemists. These names do not end in "ium" but only "um". It is also interesting to note that the 13th element on the periodic table could have properly been called Aluminum if it had been named by the Romans. Indeed the elements Argentum, Aurum, Cuprum, Ferrum, Hydrargyrum, Plumbum, and Stannum are all Latin names for elements from which their recognized elemental symbols are derived. Had the Romans coined the word "Aluminium" then it would have meant a venue at which activities relating to (presumably) light would have occurred as in a Gymnasium, Auditorium, Stadium, Colloquium, Planetarium, Podium, Sanatorium, Aquarium etc. Otherwise, it might have been a factory where "aluminum" is purified. :)
Now PM, this makes you a 'Road Scholar(ium)'.
:)
Before I said "Proper English" is nice to hear. Of course I meant in any dialect or accent. I also meant I like to hear British speech in proper English. I also like Scotch and Irish. But what drives me nuts is hearing broken English in a British accent.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ng3fG1u4Xg
But Pablo, it seems to me you are taking a more scientific approach to what is a better question for the humanities. The brits spell things wrong for the same reason they drive on the wrong side of the road. Their queen told them too. ;D
Now what about the "color shaders"? ;) Anyway, its more annoying how hippies spell fish.
edit
corrected my spelling because the irony was too much for me.
Quote from: TheBadger on December 10, 2014, 01:17:04 AMBut Pablo, it seems to me you are taking a more scientific approach to what is a better question for the humanities.
In this case, though, the word for the 13th element on the periodic table was coined by a "scientist" and scientists actively Latinize and Grecize their words. I think it is interesting how issues like this are usually a lot more murky that meets the eye.
And sometimes the problem is caused because a scientist is not involved. According to my botany teacher the Texas Bluebonnet (Lupinus texensis) is actually not the official state flower of Texas though most people think it is. At one of the legislature meetings all the lawmakers were enthusiastic about making it official and there was no disagreement among them that they wanted to make this species the official state flower. But then one of them said "Hold On. They are growing outside on the lawn of the state capitol building. I'll get one and we'll make that the official state flower". So he proceeded to run out and grabbed a Lupinus subcarnosus (Sandyland Bluebonnet) and they made that the official state flower. Texas has so many botanists on their payroll and they didn't even bother to use one of them to get it right. I just found a website that tells a different story so I don't know which story is actually correct. But then, if it is on the Internet, it MUST be correct...right?
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/archives/parsons/flowers/bluebonnet/bluebonnetstory.html
Quote from: TheBadger on December 10, 2014, 01:17:04 AMcorrected my spelling because the irony was too much for me.
We all make mistakes. Luckily this forum allows you to correct them. The Lightwave Forum closes editing after a time and it becomes too late to make changes. Even so, it asks why you want to make an edit.
QuoteBut then one of them said "Hold On. They are growing outside on the lawn of the state capitol building. I'll get one and we'll make that the official state flower". So he proceeded to run out and grabbed a Lupinus subcarnosus and they made that the official state flower. Texas has so many botanists on their payroll and they didn't even bother to use one of them to get it right.
Ha ha ! That must be the true story. That summarizes the government in general perfectly. actually now, in that light, probably the brits are right about the OP. They still drive on the wrong side of the road though.