TBT powder

[PeteCooper]

You'll be wanting us to say aloominum

It seems we got it wrong:

The name aluminium derives from its status as a base of alum. It is borrowed from Old French; its ultimate source, alumen, in turn is a Latin word that literally means "bitter salt".[63]

The earliest citation given in the Oxford English Dictionary for any word used as a name for this element is alumium, which British chemist and inventor Humphry Davy employed in 1808 for the metal he was trying to isolate electrolytically from the mineral alumina. The citation is from the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London: "Had I been so fortunate as to have obtained more certain evidences on this subject, and to have procured the metallic substances I was in search of, I should have proposed for them the names of silicium, alumium, zirconium, and glucium."[64][65]

Davy settled on aluminum by the time he published his 1812 book Chemical Philosophy: "This substance appears to contain a peculiar metal, but as yet Aluminum has not been obtained in a perfectly free state, though alloys of it with other metalline substances have been procured sufficiently distinct to indicate the probable nature of alumina."[66] But the same year, an anonymous contributor to the Quarterly Review, a British political-literary journal, in a review of Davy's book, 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."[67]

 

[vyv_cox]

"This substance appears to contain a peculiar metal, but as yet Aluminum has not been obtained in a perfectly free state, though alloys of it with other metalline substances have been procured sufficiently distinct to indicate the probable nature of alumina."[66] But the same year, an anonymous contributor to the Quarterly Review, a British political-literary journal, in a review of Davy's book, 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."

Before the electrical extraction method now used was discovered, aluminium was a very expensive metal indeed. So much so that Queen Victoria had a complete banqueting set of cutlery and dishes made from it.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Before the electrical extraction method now used was discovered, aluminium was a very expensive metal indeed. So much so that Queen Victoria had a complete banqueting set of cutlery and dishes made from it.

Indeed, and the statue of Eros in Picadilly was very costly when made, because it is aluminium (though I think it does post-date electrolytic refinement).

Concerning American usage, it is worth remembering that there are two reasons why American spelling differs from UK spelling. One is because they sometimes recall an older spelling that was changed in the UK; the other is because there was an episode of spelling simplification in the USA that didn't happen over here. "Aluminum" instead of "Aluminium" may well be the former, "Harbor" instead of "Harbour" is the latter. But American speech and grammar often relates to an earlier form of English than ours; big changes in English grammar, pronunciation and spelling happened during the 18th centuries, as a result of people trying to impose classical rules.

Interestingly, I once heard an American lady reading from the King James Version of the Bible. She read very well, but her American accent complemented the Jacobean English perfectly!

All this is very erudite, and thanks to PC for defending my use of decimate, but it hasn't a lot of relevance to TBT

 

[Plevier]

Indeed, and the statue of Eros in Picadilly was very costly when made, because it is aluminium (though I think it does post-date electrolytic refinement).

Can't resist a further bit of drift in this very erudite/pedantic thread :

The statue was intended to be Anteros, twin brother of Eros, who was the god of selfless love, in contrast to Eros, the god of sexual love. The sculptor of the statue Sir Alfred Gilbert made this distinction ''reflective and mature love, as opposed to Eros or Cupid, the frivolous tyrant'.

 

[dulcibella]

Pulling back from the thread drift:
Whether or not you can find a source of TBT, it is not only illegal in antifoul but also extremely nasty stuff.

 

[Steve_N]

Concerning American usage, it is worth remembering that there are two reasons why American spelling differs from UK spelling. One is because they sometimes recall an older spelling that was changed in the UK

Indeed. I guess that in a decade or so when 'th' has been replaced officially by the Essex 'f', leaving us with for example, "I fought that weighed free hundred kilos.." that the Americans will have stuck to the original 'th' spelling and sound.

 

[rjp]

Concerning American usage, it is worth remembering that there are two reasons why American spelling differs from UK spelling. One is because they sometimes recall an older spelling that was changed in the UK; the other is because there was an episode of spelling simplification in the USA that didn't happen over here. "Aluminum" instead of "Aluminium" may well be the former,

If the story I heard while working in the US many years ago can be believed there was a third reason:

The Aluminium Company of America (later ALCOA) which pioneered mass production of aluminium were about to launch the product on the market. Everything was ready for the big day. All the publicity material had been printed. At the 11th hour someone noticed that in all the brochures Aluminium had been misspelt as Aluminum. What to do? No time to reprint! S*d it! Change the name!!