# European royal crown made of aluminum? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 9, 2012, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-royal-crown-made-of-aluminum/643490 "2012-12-09T05:05:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2012, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-royal-crown-made-of-aluminum/643490/22 "2012-12-09T21:19:49Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Your own link explains why the longer, British, spelling and pronunciation is more correct, being preferred by the discoverer, conforming to standard rules of suffix formation, and even being preferred 19th century American chemists. “Aluminum” is just a bit a bit of lazy slurring, following what was almost certainly a simple misprint made by Noah Webster. I’ve always heard that people want to make it match with other -ium elements like titanium. Now, can you give me the current price of platinium? And as a corrolary of Occam’s razor: Webster didn’t make mistakes, he purpozly mesd with the langwidj. > [@Mangetout](#): > > To be honest, I’d be happy to lose the second I in Aluminium, on condition we could keep the PH in Sulphur Deal. I still automatically think about spelling it that way. Now we can get to the important things, like arguing over epinephrine vs. adrenaline (in the scientific sense). I think the former is winning now, take that, Anglo-Latin imperialists. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2012, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-royal-crown-made-of-aluminum/643490/23 "2012-12-09T21:40:56Z")
There’s the [Steel Crown of Romania](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steel_Crown_of_Romania). It’s made of steel because it was forged from an Ottoman cannon captured during the War of Independence, not because steel was a precious metal. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2012, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-royal-crown-made-of-aluminum/643490/24 "2012-12-09T21:47:02Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > There’s the [Steel Crown of Romania](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steel_Crown_of_Romania). It’s made of steel because it was forged from an Ottoman cannon captured during the War of Independence, not because steel was a precious metal. That’s pretty badass. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2012, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-royal-crown-made-of-aluminum/643490/25 "2012-12-09T22:17:04Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > To be honest, I’d be happy to lose the second I in Aluminium, on condition we could keep the PH in Sulphur Shouldn’t that be “sulphour”? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2012, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-royal-crown-made-of-aluminum/643490/26 "2012-12-09T22:40:20Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > The pronunciation of the element is a very important topic since it’s the only difference in pronunciation and spelling of words between the US and GB. Amazing that we’ve tolerated this discrepancy all these years. Well, it’s not like we disagree on whether a tomato is fruit or vegetable. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2012, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-royal-crown-made-of-aluminum/643490/27 "2012-12-09T22:42:13Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Shouldn’t that be “sulphour”? Only if it’s spelt ‘Sulfor’ in the USA - we’ve got some OUs where you have O, but not where you have U. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-royal-crown-made-of-aluminum/643490/28 "2012-12-10T03:12:02Z")
There was a set of aluminum tableware made for some young prince back when it was still rare. It wasn’t “smelting” that was needed – electricity allowed them to produce large amounts of aluminum by electrolysis. The process – which was complicated by the need to find something to dissolve the aluminum mineral in – was discovered very nearly simultaneously by two independent workers. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-royal-crown-made-of-aluminum/643490/29 "2012-12-10T03:27:57Z")
I have seen a painting of Napoleon Bonaparte and his family, in which the baby has a rattle made of aluminum. The rattle still exists, in some museum somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-royal-crown-made-of-aluminum/643490/30 "2012-12-10T03:32:17Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > I have seen a painting of Napoleon Bonaparte and his family, in which the baby has a rattle made of aluminum. The rattle still exists, in some museum somewhere. I don’t think metallic aluminum was available while Napoleon was alive. Perhaps your confusing Bonaparte with one of the later Napoleons? ---
**Author:** ![stui\_magpie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stui_magpie/32/11010_2.png) [@stui\_magpie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stui_magpie)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-royal-crown-made-of-aluminum/643490/31 "2012-12-10T03:37:05Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > The pronunciation of the element is a very important topic since it’s the only difference in pronunciation and spelling of words between the US and GB. Amazing that we’ve tolerated this discrepancy all these years. Sarcasm much?😛 I never realised til now that the word was spelled different in the US, I just thought it was a quirk of pronunciation. Most of the other spelling crimes involve leaving out “U”'s and substituting ‘Z’ for ‘S’. (Z by the way is pronounced “Zed” by the rest of the world, not “Zee”.) ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-royal-crown-made-of-aluminum/643490/32 "2012-12-10T03:39:39Z")
**One** of the later Napoleons? Are we including the one who died at 22, or the one who died in battle in South Africa? ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-royal-crown-made-of-aluminum/643490/33 "2012-12-10T03:46:38Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > **One** of the later Napoleons? Are we including the one who died at 22, or the one who died in battle in South Africa? I was thinking of Napoleon II or Napoleon III, but there [were a couple](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_%28disambiguation%29) other members of the family that probably also had the means to have their kids own toys made of (then) exotic materials. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-royal-crown-made-of-aluminum/643490/34 "2012-12-10T06:08:12Z")
Napoleon’s aluminum baby rattle [Alcoa -- Company](http://www.alcoa.com/global/en/about_alcoa/time_machine/time_machine_html.asp) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2012, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-royal-crown-made-of-aluminum/643490/35 "2012-12-10T09:44:50Z")
> [@stui\_magpie](#): > > (Z by the way is pronounced “Zed” by the rest of the world, not “Zee”.) It’s been a while since I participated in a transatlantic pronunciation/spelling thread, but the Zee/Zed thing is often amusing (horror at the fact that ‘zed’ makes the last line of the alphabet song not rhyme; confusion over whether we call a stripey horse a ‘Zedbra’, etc) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-royal-crown-made-of-aluminum/643490/36 "2012-12-14T13:31:02Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > It’s been a while since I participated in a transatlantic pronunciation/spelling thread, but the Zee/Zed thing is often amusing (horror at the fact that ‘zed’ makes the last line of the alphabet song not rhyme; confusion over whether we call a stripey horse a ‘Zedbra’, etc) I’ve always been amused that people who insist on using “aluminium” for the sake of consistency\* nevertheless insuist on having the pronunciation of “Z” the Odd Man Outr with its eccentric ending, unlike the pronnciation of any other letter. \*Yet “platinum” doesn’t bother them. ---
**Author:** ![Double\_Foolscap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@Double\_Foolscap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Double_Foolscap)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-royal-crown-made-of-aluminum/643490/37 "2012-12-14T13:42:42Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > One object that I know of which is sort-of famously made of alumin(i)um is [the statue of Eros in Piccadilly Circus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piccadilly_Circus#Shaftesbury_Memorial_and_the_Statue_of_Eros). > > I learned that recently on QI (which, of course, is the source of every single fact that I know). Also mentioned on QI - it isn’t Eros, it’s [Anteros](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anteros) - minus ten points 😉 ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-royal-crown-made-of-aluminum/643490/38 "2012-12-14T17:22:12Z")
Okay, a stupid joke. How was aluminum discovered? Someone smelt it. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-royal-crown-made-of-aluminum/643490/39 "2012-12-14T20:19:18Z")
you’ve got some brass posting a stupid joke like that. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-royal-crown-made-of-aluminum/643490/40 "2012-12-14T20:52:20Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > you’ve got some brass posting a stupid joke like that. Clearly it was comedy gold. Or not depending on your viewpoint. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2012, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-royal-crown-made-of-aluminum/643490/41 "2012-12-14T21:53:48Z")
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