# NOT the Periodic Table **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 2, 2016, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-the-periodic-table/744942 "2016-02-02T13:06:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![MacLir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9e8a1a/32.png) [@MacLir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacLir)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2016, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-the-periodic-table/744942/41 "2016-02-04T15:25:45Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > (Lithium) > Well for bipolar disorder; it won’t do much to elevate a solely depressed mood. It’s also administered in salt form, such as lithium carbonate or citrate and not straight elemental lithium. I have lived in a couple of places which had a town called Lithia or Lithia Springs nearby. Every time I would see it I would jokingly think what a well-adjusted place it must be. 😃 ---
**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:** [February 4, 2016, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-the-periodic-table/744942/42 "2016-02-04T15:56:32Z")
In most of the geographic places the name comes from the mineral/element being nearby. Or, in cases like Ytterby, the elements (four of them, in that case) are named after the town. But in neither of these cases are my OP crirteria met. If the town is named “sulphur Springs”, then clearly it was the presence of sulphur, not the sound of the name or its scientific cachet that is responsible for the naming. And if the town gave its name to the element, the name clearly wasn’t taken because it sounded “scientific”. The naming is wholly unrelated not only to the eventual element, but to any trace of being influenced by the association with scientific stuff. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2016, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-the-periodic-table/744942/43 "2016-02-04T22:27:42Z")
> [@Abner\_Ravenwood](#): > > Freddie Mercury, Joey Mercury, Mercury from Marvel Comics, Mercury from DC Comics, Sailor Mercury from Sailor Moon, Mercury Man No love for DC’s Max Mercury? ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-the-periodic-table/744942/44 "2016-02-05T02:58:33Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **Der Trihs** : > > Marvel’s Squadron Supreme was made pretty explicitly as an expy of DC’s Justice League; the Superman-equivalent Hyperion came from the planet Argon and was vulnerable to “Argonite”. Aaron Williams used the same names for his Superman-equivalent in _PS238_. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-the-periodic-table/744942/45 "2016-02-05T05:07:45Z")
> [@NuclearBombPop](#): > > There are a surprising number of US cities named for elements, as discussed in [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=131683) thread. I just necromanced that thread with a link to an article from Word Ways magazine I wrote years ago. As far as Gelett Burgess, he “coined” **bromide** with the meaning of someone who often utters trite, hackneyed phrases. The hackneyed phrases themselves, he called **bromidioms**. So his coinage there did not quite stick the way he intended. He did coin a word **goop** , but with a totally different meaning from what we use today. I can’t remember exactly what his definition was, though. However, **blurb** is definitely his. It has a relationship to bromide, as described [here](http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-blu1.htm) ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-the-periodic-table/744942/46 "2016-02-05T07:55:05Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > He did coin a word **goop** , but with a totally different meaning from what we use today. I can’t remember exactly what his definition was, though. The OED2 defines it as “a stupid or fatuous person”. Its etymology is given as “arbitrary formation”; Burgess isn’t specifically named as the coiner, but the first quotation listed (from 1900) is from him: “Goops, and how to be them. Manual of manners for polite infants, inculcating many juvenile virtues, both by precept and example.” ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2016, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-the-periodic-table/744942/47 "2016-02-05T09:48:06Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > Not exactly an element, but I always wondered where the character Quark (on ST: DS9) got his name from. Is his name pronounced “kw **a** rk”, or “Kw **o** rk”? I’ve always thought the sub-atomic particle was pronounced kwark, but I see that the originator hoped for kwork. The sub-atomic particle is, of course, an inversion of the OP, since the sub-atomic particle was named for the sound of an unrelated word. ---
**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:** [February 5, 2016, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-the-periodic-table/744942/48 "2016-02-05T13:09:08Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > I just necromanced that thread with a link to an article from Word Ways magazine I wrote years ago. > > As far as Gelett Burgess, he “coined” **bromide** with the meaning of someone who often utters trite, hackneyed phrases. The hackneyed phrases themselves, he called **bromidioms**. So his coinage there did not quite stick the way he intended. > > He did coin a word **goop** , but with a totally different meaning from what we use today. I can’t remember exactly what his definition was, though. His “goops” were oddly-shaped people who didn’t behave correctly. Hence the title of his book containing them, _Goops and How to Be Them: A Manual of Manners for Polite Infants_. The book is still in print, and I don’t think it was ever out of print. > **[Goops and How to Be Them (Applewood Books): Burgess, Gelett: 9781557093929:...](https://www.amazon.com/Goops-How-Be-Them-Inculcating/dp/155709392X)** > > Goops and How to Be Them (Applewood Books) \[Burgess, Gelett\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. Goops and How to Be Them (Applewood Books) I didn’t mean to imply that he introduced the word with its current meaning, just that he seems to be the first to use it. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2016, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-the-periodic-table/744942/49 "2016-02-07T20:34:58Z")
The main character in Rebecca Lisle’s novel **Copper** is another example. ---
**Author:** ![JR\_Brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JR\_Brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JR_Brown)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2016, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-the-periodic-table/744942/50 "2016-02-10T21:48:24Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Bromide – meaning an acerbic axiom. The word was coined by MIT grad turned cartoonist and poet Frank Gelett Burgess (who wrote “The Purple Cow”, among other things). His coming up with this term is clearly his MIT Chemistry training coming through. Fun fact: bromides of various things (potassium, lithium, etc) were prescribed as soporifics back in the day, and by the turn of the century or so, “bromide” had become a) a generic lay term for a soporific or sedative, and b) slang for a boring person and / or overused platitude. This is how the word is used by Burgess; I suspect he popularized rather than originated the term, and I don’t think his chemistry background had much to do with it. Edit: Foo, didn’t read far enough down the thread before posting, other people beat me to it… ---
**Author:** ![Find\_Friends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@Find\_Friends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Find_Friends)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-the-periodic-table/744942/51 "2016-02-11T16:45:10Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > Is his name pronounced “kw **a** rk”, or “Kw **o** rk”? I’ve always thought the sub-atomic particle was pronounced kwark, but I see that the originator hoped for kwork. True enough, but after all these years it has been pronounced differently, isn’t this different pronunciation now official? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-the-periodic-table/744942/52 "2016-02-11T17:20:52Z")
What’s the difference between those pronunciations? Is it “ah” vs “aw”? Or “oh”? Or something? I ask because I personally would pronounce quark and quork the same way. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-the-periodic-table/744942/53 "2016-02-11T21:26:36Z")
I can distinguish a difference between the two pronunciations if I really try, but they’re close enough that I probably wouldn’t notice someone using one or the other, and I can’t say which one I habitually use. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-the-periodic-table/744942/54 "2016-02-11T21:35:21Z")
> [@Find\_Friends](#): > > True enough, but after all these years it has been pronounced differently, isn’t this different pronunciation now official? Yeah, the creator of the GIF insists that it’s supposed to be pronounced “Jiff.” But if you pronounce it that way, I’m :rolleyes: at you (not to mention that the G stands for “graphics,” not “giraffics”). ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-the-periodic-table/744942/55 "2016-02-11T22:25:32Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Yeah, the creator of the GIF insists that it’s supposed to be pronounced “Jiff.” But if you pronounce it that way, I’m :rolleyes: at you (not to mention that the G stands for “graphics,” not “giraffics”). That’s how I’ve always pronounced it, like the peanut butter. I’m not sure where I got it from, but “giff” sounds weird to me. ---
**Author:** ![Tam\_Trible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f14d63/32.png) [@Tam\_Trible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tam_Trible)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2016, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-the-periodic-table/744942/56 "2016-02-12T04:21:47Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > One of the main characters from the online comic Gunerkrigg Court is named Antimony. There’s also an Antimony (Antimony Price) in one of Seanan McGuire’s series, the one that starts with Discount Apocalypse. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2016, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-the-periodic-table/744942/57 "2016-02-12T14:28:33Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > What’s the difference between those pronunciations? Is it “ah” vs “aw”? Or “oh”? Or something? I ask because I personally would pronounce quark and quork the same way. I suspect you pronounce the vowel sound in “quark” like you say “quarter”. Try saying it as “qu” in front of “ark”. Quork would rhyme with cork. Of course if you pronounce Noah’s Ark like Noah’s Ork then all bets are off. ---
**Author:** ![Find\_Friends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@Find\_Friends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Find_Friends)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2016, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-the-periodic-table/744942/58 "2016-02-12T14:53:29Z")
Okay, okay, but either way “squark” would seem awkward to pronounce. If this Supersymmetry [counterpart to the quark](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sfermion#Squarks) is ever found, I recommend renaming it as… TWERK! ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2016, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-the-periodic-table/744942/59 "2016-02-13T03:07:02Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > What’s the difference between those pronunciations? Is it “ah” vs “aw”? Or “oh”? Or something? I ask because I personally would pronounce quark and quork the same way. The difference between are and ore. > [@BwanaBob](#): > > I suspect you pronounce the vowel sound in “quark” like you say “quarter”. That’s probably part of where the disconnect comes from. Vowels is mushy anyway. Dialects mangle them all over the place. ---
**Author:** ![GoodOmens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@GoodOmens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GoodOmens)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2016, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-the-periodic-table/744942/60 "2016-02-15T13:42:28Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Palladium is the name of numerous concert halls and theaters. As well as a pencil-and-paper RPG system during the 80’s and 90’s. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-the-periodic-table/744942.md?page=2)