Comment on Help me remember a "back-to-back chaise longue" from TV or film
deegeese@sopuli.xyz 5 months agoI bet you think British spellings are inherently “superiour“.
Aluminum is the name chosen by the discoverer, by analogy from the mineral alum. Chemists choose chemical names, not English grammarians.
meekah@lemmy.world 5 months ago
Yes, that’s what the person who discovered it wanted to name it. By that logic, “alumium” would also be a valid term. However, anybody with common sense, back then and now, understands there is value in extending the ending to conform to the pattern of "-ium"s, like sodium, potassium, lithium, etc. All metals discovered since 1811 have that ending.
morphballganon@lemmy.world 5 months ago
And what value is that? Describe it please.
meekah@lemmy.world 5 months ago
Humans are great at pattern detection. So putting patterns into our language helps us understand things intuitively more easily.
morphballganon@lemmy.world 5 months ago
I’m pretty sure someone who appreciates the nuance of a pattern emerging in 1811 is past the point of needing a consistent naming convention to identify what aluminum is.