“It was British scientists of the time, however, that decided, with a beautiful level of verbosity, that: “Aluminium, for so we shall take the liberty of writing the word, in preference to aluminum, which has a less classical sound.” For the US spelling + pronunciation, we can blame... annie.micro.blog

@Annie Today I learned that aluminum and aluminium are actually two different words and not an accent. Thanks for that. Language is fun.

@maique No, American arrogance is “nuculur” instead of nuclear.😜

@Annie Thanks for this engaging post!

@gregmoore Do people who say “nuculur” also say “nuculus” for “nucleus”?

@cliffordbeshers These are the same people who say ‘aks’ for ‘ask’.

@parag I’m not sure about that. Ask versus Aks or Ax has cultural significance and a long history

The origins of “nuclear” are more recent, but older than I expected: 1704 seems to be the origin, from the early days of exploring the structure of cells.

@cliffordbeshers @parag Agree. I too learned late about these cultural aspects. We may have noticed Bennie Thompson, the Chair of the Jan 6th Committee also say ‘aks’.

@cliffordbeshers Good question as it seems to be an American southern accent thing that drives it.

@parag Or “eck cetera” for “et cetera”?

@maique I feel like American arrogance may still have something to do with it. 🙄

@gregmoore Yay language is fun! I love these little tidbits too.

@JMaxB What a fun memory, and clever naming – obviously stuck, since you remember it!

@annahavron You’re welcome, glad you liked it

@gregmoore @maique OH DEAR LORD SAVE US

@gregmoore @cliffordbeshers Also very Midwest - perhaps only more Southern or rural Midwest. I’ve heard versions from MS to MO.

@pratik @cliffordbeshers @parag Important distinction: mispronunciation versus cultural- or regional-specific pronunciation.

@Annie Thank you, I learnt something this morning.

@Annie When I was growing up in the St. Louis area the white people I knew said “ask” and most black people I knew said “aks.” There at least it was an ethnic and also a class thing. Middle-class blacks said “ask.”