Comment on Add it to the pile of reasons to hate 'em
pulsewidth@lemmy.world 4 days agoEdited my comment for more clarity. But the etymology of the spelling is all in the Wikipedia article if you’d just read that small ‘spelling’ section instead of stopping when you feel you’ve read something that backs your point. It was 100% driven by American marketers, not “Brits changing their minds”.
[…] in 1892, Hall used the Aluminum spelling in his advertising handbill for his new electrolytic method of producing the metal, despite his constant use of the Aluminium spelling in all the patents he filed between 1886 and 1903. It is unknown whether this spelling was introduced by mistake or intentionally, but Hall preferred aluminum since its introduction because it resembled platinum, the name of a prestigious metal.[141] By 1890, both spellings had been common in the United States, the -ium spelling being slightly more common; by 1895, the situation had reversed; by 1900, aluminum had become twice as common as aluminium; in the next decade, the -um spelling dominated American usage. In 1925, the American Chemical Society adopted this spelling.[135]
Wilco@lemm.ee 4 days ago
It is what it is. The US did not accept the THIRD name change. No one really knew about the first name. Aluminium appeared in the fucking dictionary … but the US population ignored it and stayed with the second name.
Wikipedia is just citing old books … the same old books people disregarded when they refused to use the new weird name.
Webster was an idiot and was trying to change hundreds of words and the population just wasn’t having it. “Soop” instead of “Soup” was literally forced on the public, Aluminium, Dawter … do we use those? No.
Wikipedia is simply wrong. Both spellings were never equally used. Even your post confirms this, the dudes patent said “Aluminium”, but he used Aluminum instead because he liked it. This is how it was everywhere.
pulsewidth@lemmy.world 3 days ago
Ahh yes, Wikipedia is wrong, books on aluminium and scientific naming are also wrong, evidence…? trust me bro. Once again you keep the parts from Wikipedia you like, but discard facts counter to your point.
What’s the point in engaging further, we’ve reached peak comedy. 👌
Wilco@lemm.ee 3 days ago
Agreed. I have said people ignored the books and dictionary entries, the word Aluminium and MANY others never caught on. You just keep pointing to those books.
The US literally “noped” out of the word Aluminium and refused to use it. If Im wrong, then why arent we saying it today?