Why do you always add an R to the end of a word that finishes with "a"? I always hear Jeremy Clarkson on Top Gear saying "Hondar S2000", "Mazdar 6", etc.
ToxicBug wrote:Why do you always add an R to the end of a word that finishes with "a"? I always hear Jeremy Clarkson on Top Gear saying "Hondar S2000", "Mazdar 6", etc.
That's a new one to me. Is it listed that way in UK periodic charts?
it's pronounced al - you - min - eeyum, you americans pronounce it al - oo - minum which is wrong
We've been through this before. Aside from the fact that there are other "-um" elements in the periodic table, and that the original spelling of it was "-um", the root word is conjugated by adding "-um" and not "-ium". So it's the Brits who are wrong in this case.
In 1808 Sir Humphrey Davy proposed the name ALUMIUM for the metal. This rather unwieldy name was soon replaced by ALUMINUM and later the word ALUMINIUM was adopted by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemists in order to conform with the "ium" ending of most elements. By the mid-1800s both spellings were in use, indeed Charles Dickens commented at the time that he felt both names were too difficult for the masses to pronounce!
The patents of both Hall and Héroult refer to ALUMINIUM and the company Hall helped set up was originally called the Pittsburgh ALUMINIUM Company. It was shortly renamed the Pittsburgh Reduction Company and in the USA the metal gradually began to be known only as ALUMINUM (in 1907 Hall's company finally became the ALUMINUM Company of America). In 1925 the American Chemical Society decided to use the name ALUMINUM in their official publications. Most of the world have kept the I in ALUMINIUM but it is interesting to note that the name for the metal's oxide, ALUMINA has been universally accepted over its more convoluted alternatives, ALUMINE and ALUMINIA.
phantasmagoria wrote:There are also lots of elements that end in ium, for example all the alkali metals...
That's my point, some have -ium, and some have -um. Platinum and molybdenum, for example. And the root "alumina" doesn't require -ium like "calx" (calcium) or "radius" (radium) do.
prince1000 wrote:only foxnews and jesus care about semantics
Semantics
1. ... The study or science of meaning in language.
2. ... The study of relationships between signs and symbols and what they represent. Also called semasiology.
3. The meaning or the interpretation of a word, sentence, or other language form.
Most of the world have kept the I in ALUMINIUM but it is interesting to note that the name for the metal's oxide, ALUMINA has been universally accepted over its more convoluted alternatives, ALUMINE and ALUMINIA.
