Bob,
I was referring to your "Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium) says this about the name:"
quote when I said that google is not an authority. Anybody can write
just about anything into google. Most teachers will not allow quotes
from google due to the mess that google is in.
The people at Merrian-Webster have always been considered authoritative.
If we can't trust the people that produce of the the top dictionaries,
then we are lost.
In this case, I was saying that "here is a much more authoritative site
that backs up most of the story posted on google."
Tony Thigpen
Bob Bridges wrote on 7/20/20 2:04 AM:
Always interesting, if you like words (and I do). Thanks.
"Google", you say? Google isn't the source of my information, only the
warehouse (so to speak). The first source I quoted was Mr Davy himself. But maybe you
meant Wikipedia; a lot of people express varying amounts of derision when they hear
Wikipedia mentioned.
---
Bob Bridges, robhbrid...@gmail.com, cell 336 382-7313
/* The arguments against state-controlled churches apply with equal force to
state-run schools. No free society allows the state to claim authority over
the mind. -Joseph Sobran */
-----Original Message-----
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On Behalf
Of Tony Thigpen
Sent: Sunday, July 19, 2020 18:19
Personally, I prefer a more authoritative source than Google, but it is
almost the same story:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/aluminum-vs-aluminium
--- Bob Bridges wrote on 7/19/20 6:09 PM:
Because I know you were all breathlessly awaiting the verdict on the great
"aluminum"/"aluminium" controversy, I went to find more information. At
https://books.google.com/books?id=YjMwAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA201 you can find a page in _Elements of Chemical
Philosophy_ by Humphrey Davy (who first isolated aluminum), published in 1812; here he talks about
"aluminum" (a metal to be found in alumina, which in turn was processed from alum). Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium) says this about the name:
"British chemist Humphry Davy, who performed a number of experiments aimed to
isolate the metal, is credited as the person who named the element. In 1808, he suggested
the metal be named alumium in an article on his electrochemical research which was
published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. This suggestion was
criticized by contemporary chemists from France, Germany, and Sweden, who insisted the
metal should be named for the oxide, alumina, from which it would be isolated. In 1812,
Davy published a chemistry textbook in which he settled on the name aluminum, thus
producing the modern name. However, its spelling and pronunciation varies: aluminum is in
use in the United States and Canada while aluminium is in use elsewhere."
That sounds plausible to me.
-----Original Message-----
From: Bob Bridges [mailto:robhbrid...@gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, July 19, 2020 17:34
Aha! Yet a third story; in this one Davy started out with "aluminum" and the
Europeans ~added~ the 'i'.
-----Original Message-----
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On Behalf
Of Joe Monk
Sent: Sunday, July 19, 2020 07:22
The British Scientist (Davy) who discovered ALUMINUM named it that. It is
we Americans who are using the correct name ... the British press felt that
it should be in line with sodium and potassium and thus added to the
spelling.
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