Hi Tim. Well, I surely get your point, but I have to say, that really was the last in the "minor points" addressed by the (again excellent!) referee. That did not bother me at all, I really appreciate a referee that reads thoroughly my paper.
Also, it is true we do write in English, but we do also write of science, and that implies being as precise as we can be. Many have confirmed (thanks Roberto, Mark, Mischa, Henry, Harry, Mathews) that "vitrified" is the correct wording, and "cryocooled" could be used as well, without being imprecise. So I just guess I will stick to the new words, happy to have learned something new about scientific English. Thank you too, ciao, s On Nov 15, 2012, at 6:59 PM, Tim Gruene wrote: > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 > > Dear s, > > I have heard this discussion before and reminds me of people claiming > strawberries were nuts - which botanically may be correct, but would > still not make me complain about strawberries in a fruit cake I > ordered at a restaurant. > > My Pengiun English Dictionary states (amongst other explanations) > freeze: "to make extremely cold", so as long as you think your article > is written in English, you did not say anything wrong, assuming your > readers are intelligent enough to understand what you are trying to > say - and in a crystallographic article, the process of 'freezing' > your crystal is most likely not your main point where you need to be > 100% unambiguous. > > Cheers, > Tim > > On 11/15/2012 06:13 PM, Sebastiano Pasqualato wrote: >> >> Hi folks, I have recently received a comment on a paper, in which >> referee #1 (excellent referee, btw!) commented like this: >> >> "crystals were vitrified rather than frozen." >> >> These were crystals grew in ca. 2.5 M sodium malonate, directly dip >> in liquid nitrogen prior to data collection at 100 K. We stated in >> the methods section that crystals were "frozen in liquid nitrogen", >> as I always did. >> >> After a little googling it looks like I've always been wrong, and >> what we are always doing is doing is actually vitrifying the >> crystals. Should I always use this statement, from now on, or are >> there english/physics subtleties that I'm not grasping? >> >> Thanks a lot, ciao, s >> >> > > - -- > Dr Tim Gruene > Institut fuer anorganische Chemie > Tammannstr. 4 > D-37077 Goettingen > > GPG Key ID = A46BEE1A > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- > Version: GnuPG v1.4.12 (GNU/Linux) > Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/ > > iD8DBQFQpS17UxlJ7aRr7hoRAvX0AJ9b3YYQ4kXu5J0wJdEYudPclTmKtQCg8HSx > R4wgkmbp2l7Q/ns/HfJkqgY= > =R9Wp > -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- Sebastiano Pasqualato, PhD Crystallography Unit Department of Experimental Oncology European Institute of Oncology IFOM-IEO Campus via Adamello, 16 20139 - Milano Italy tel +39 02 9437 5167 fax +39 02 9437 5990 please note the change in email address! sebastiano.pasqual...@ieo.eu
