Consider the verb seed
From M-W
1.To plant seeds in (land, for example); sow.
2.To plant in soil.
3.To remove the seeds from (fruit).
You put seeds in, you take them out, you’re still seeding.
You mean like Platinium, Lanthanium, Tantalium, and Molybdenium?
Apologies for my stupidity over Aluminum/Aluminium- it is a random case. However I still maintain that US and British English differ in some regular and some random usages.
There is no such substance as “aluminium”. According to the International Union for Pure and Applied Chemistry, the internationally-recognized body responsible, among other things, for officially deciding the names of the chemical elements, the name of element number 13 is “aluminum”. The IUPAC uses this name because it is the name given to said element by the chemist who first isolated it.
Of course, there are many differences between the US and UK for which there is no official “right” or “wrong” form. When was the last time any of you Americans filled up your gas tank with petrol?
German: Aluminium
French: Aluminium
Italian: Alluminio
Spanish: Aluminio
UK English: Aluminium
Australian English: Aluminium
New Zealand English: Aluminium
South African English: Aluminium
Indian Sub-continent English: Aluminium
However:
American English: Aluminum
Can you see a pattern?
In Britain Aluminum is not a word, only an Americanism.
The fact that an organisation defines it as Aluminum is only a convention. It only uses Aluminum because American English is the standard language for that institution. This doesn’t mean that the 13th element is called Aluminum in German, French, Italian, Spanish, or in English, only that it is Aluminum in US English.
It also defines the name of the 26th element as Iron, but in France it is Fer etc.etc…
Usage is Everything.
Aluminum was coined in 1812 by Sir Humphrey Davy, from Latin “alumen, aluminis”.
However, he originally had it as Alumium from “alumina”+ “-ium” (suffix meaning metal).
Man, don’t they just love sticking to the ol’ Latin!
In 1812, the British must have thought “to heck with this” and stuck to “aluminium” (like sodium, potassium, magnesium etc.)
So – did American usage stem from Davy’s 1812 change because – maybe they didn’t exactly get on with dear ol’ Blighty at the time?
For a short history on the spelling of aluminum, see Michael Quinion’s article. According to that article, IUPAC has aluminium as its official spelling.
As far as the OP, I will say as a patriotic, non-suicidal American that there is no such thing as a disgruntled postal worker. Nope, not a one. You won’t see me pissing-off a gruntledly-challenged postal worker by calling him disgruntled. No siree…
Ice Wolf: do you know what a rhetorical question is?
To The Ryan:
Yes.
Feeling a need to contribute to this thread, I spent a little time at MerriamWebster.com, and I found out some shocking information.
I was stunned by the etymology because I live in Buncombe County, NC. I don’t know if I can continue to be a part of a message board dedicated to fighting ignorance now that I know that I live in the birthplace of bunkum.