Re: silly question
On Sat, Mar 05, 2005 at 08:54:29PM +1100, Darryl Luff wrote:
> Paul E Condon wrote:
>
> >On Fri, Mar 04, 2005 at 05:26:47AM +0000, Pollywog wrote:
> >
> >
> >>On Friday 04 March 2005 04:48 am, Blake Swadling wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>>next you'll be telling us that it is "aluminum" ... check the periodic
> >>>table ppl. there is a second letter 'i' in there somewhere
> >>>
> >>>if you re going to nit pick about pronunciation you should be a little
> >>>more careful.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>I confess I have never seen that particular version of the periodic
> >>table, but I agree with most of what you said.
> >>
> >>8)
> >>
> >>
> >>As I understand it, the Aluminum Corporation of America deliberately
> >>misspelled
> >>the name of the metal in its corporate name. Americans accepted the new
> >>spelling
> >>as a matter of national pride (of which we have a great deal). There was
> >>also
> >>some nonsense about it being easier to pronounce, I think.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> Sort of, but if the link below is right aluminum came first, until a
> union of chemists in the 1800's changed it to aluminium to match up with
> all the other -ium element names. Then in the early 1900's America
> decided to change back to Aluminum. The company started off as
> Pittsburgh Aluminium Company and renamed itself to Aluminum Company of
> America in 1907.
>
> Maybe we should go back to alumen or alumine!
>
> http://www.world-aluminium.org/history/language.html
>
And the whole world has standardized on the metric system, except, of
course, the USA. Ane we were first! Or what?
My point, which I should have stated more clearly, is that there is no
single way of deciding these issues. Usually, one side wins because
all the other sides just get tired and stop fighting. In America (USA),
we are largely unaware of the existing diversity of opinion on many
issues. We imagine that other ways are simply wierd and wrong.
--
Paul E Condon
pecondon@mesanetworks.net
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