Fallible wrote:I had an argument with a work colleague about it; her claim was that you pronounce it like that even though there is no i. I asked, incredulous, why you would pronounce a letter that wasn’t there, but amazingly she couldn’t answer. Soon to be heard saying ‘mischevious’ again in a conversation near me...

Thommo wrote:I say mischievious whilst knowing it's wrong because I enjoy the way it sounds. Out of consideration I'll try not to do it when you're around!

Spearthrower wrote:Whereas, I say it the normal way, but when Fallible's around, I will make sure to add the i... I'm just mischevious like that!

scott1328 wrote:

Fallible wrote:I had an argument with a work colleague about it; her claim was that you pronounce it like that even though there is no i. I asked, incredulous, why you would pronounce a letter that wasn’t there, but amazingly she couldn’t answer. Soon to be heard saying ‘mischevious’ again in a conversation near me...

so then, how do you say aluminum?

scott1328 wrote:

Fallible wrote:I had an argument with a work colleague about it; her claim was that you pronounce it like that even though there is no i. I asked, incredulous, why you would pronounce a letter that wasn’t there, but amazingly she couldn’t answer. Soon to be heard saying ‘mischevious’ again in a conversation near me...

so then, how do you say aluminum?

laklak wrote:Uh LU min um.

Everybody knows this.

Etymology

Aluminium is named after alumina, or aluminium oxide in modern nomenclature. The word "alumina" comes from "alum", the mineral from which it was collected. The word "alum" comes from alumen, a Latin word meaning "bitter salt".[95] The word alumen stems from the Proto-Indo-European root *alu- meaning "bitter" or "beer".[96]
1897 American advertisement featuring the aluminum spelling

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.[97] 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.[98] In 1812, Davy chose aluminum, thus producing the modern name.[99] However, its spelling and pronunciation varies: aluminum is in use in the United States and Canada while aluminium is in use elsewhere.[100]

Spelling

The -ium suffix followed the precedent set in other newly discovered elements of the time: potassium, sodium, magnesium, calcium, and strontium (all of which Davy isolated himself). Nevertheless, element names ending in -um were known at the time; for example, platinum (known to Europeans since the 16th century), molybdenum (discovered in 1778), and tantalum (discovered in 1802). The -um suffix is consistent with the universal spelling alumina for the oxide (as opposed to aluminia); compare to lanthana, the oxide of lanthanum, and magnesia, ceria, and thoria, the oxides of magnesium, cerium, and thorium, respectively.

In 1812, British scientist Thomas Young[101] wrote an anonymous review of Davy's book, in which he objected to aluminum and proposed the name aluminium: "for so we shall take the liberty of writing the word, in preference to aluminum, which has a less classical sound."[102] This name did catch on: while the -um spelling was occasionally used in Britain, the American scientific language used -ium from the start.[103] Most scientists used -ium throughout the world in the 19th century;[104] it still remains the standard in most other languages.[100] In 1828, American lexicographer Noah Webster used exclusively the aluminum spelling in his American Dictionary of the English Language.[105] In the 1830s, the -um spelling started to gain usage in the United States; by the 1860s, it had become the more common spelling there outside science.[103] In 1892, Hall used the -um spelling in his advertising handbill for his new electrolytic method of producing the metal, despite his constant use of the -ium spelling in all the patents he filed between 1886 and 1903. It was subsequently suggested this was a typo rather than intended.[100] By 1890, both spellings had been common in the U.S. overall, the -ium spelling being slightly more common; by 1895, the situation had reversed; by 1900, aluminum had become twice as common as aluminium; during the following decade, the -um spelling dominated American usage.[106] In 1925, the American Chemical Society adopted this spelling.[106]

The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) adopted aluminium as the standard international name for the element in 1990.[107] In 1993, they recognized aluminum as an acceptable variant;[107] the most recent 2005 edition of the IUPAC nomenclature of inorganic chemistry acknowledges this spelling as well.[108] IUPAC official publications use the -ium spelling as primary but list both where appropriate.[e]