Why say more syllable when few do
this post was submitted on 10 Nov 2025
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In America do you call it copum?
Also Nucular vs Nuclear
Except one of those is not a word in any dialect, just an unfortunate mispronunciation. (Unless there's such thing as "American Idiot English")
And Mathematics is singular, not plural, so shortening it would be "Math" not "Maths."
But it's better to appreciate differences in the pronunciations and spellings of words
Mathematics is singular
PRECISELY! Thank you for proving it! If a single maths-based event occurs then it is called 'mathematical', as in the singular! Meaning that the term 'mathematics' is plural <3
Math's
This is really funny as a bilingual person.
When I speak English to my white friends I say Aluminum.
When I speak Sinhala to family I say Aluminium.
It was a British guy who first fucked it up. Cope, Brits.
Potassium (K) is called Kalium in New Latin and a variation thereof in plenty of languages. It makes far more sense. The symbol's K in the periodic table an the eymological link with alkali is in the word. The Brits don't have a leg to stand on.
Then again, Americans are stupid about the metric system. Think they can't visualize what 1 meter is, but almost every American can visualize the length of an M16A4 just fine.
Most Americans aren't actually too biased against metric, I'd say that's a stereotype boosted by an extremely vocal minority. The real problem is that most of us can't visualize the length of a yard or mile any better than we can a meter or kilometer. It's more an across the board lack of education.
A kilometer is 1000 M16A4s.
Same as with soccer
You're right, we should fix that. Helum, Lithum, Beryllum, Sodum, Magnesum.
We should also fix Platinium and Lanthanium.
Do we add ium to lead and gold?
Leadium and Goldium.
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It was pronounced aluminum first. The Brits changed it purposely to sound fancy.
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Yes, but only Argon. Nitrogenium, Carbonium, Phosphorusium, Hydrogenium, Xenonium…
Platinum enters the chat.
*Platuminium
Technically the guy who discovered it named it Alumium.
Alumium first, but then called it aluminum
It kinda reminds me of how the Brits invented the word “soccer” and now get their knickers in a twist if you say it in front of them.
The one that gets me is they bitch about calling the season Fall. They claim that Americans are so basic and stupid that we can only think to name the season after the leaves falling. They think that the name Autumn (which we also use), borrowed from French, is a far better name for the season.
First of all, we get it. You have your nose firmly up the collective asses of the French, Britain. It's a very pretty language, but maybe you could stop butchering their language for 5 minutes if you're going to be criticizing others for their English.
Second, you are the ones who came up with the name "Fall", Brits. Fall is indeed short for "The Fall of the Leaf". That term predates the US entirely, by almost two centuries, at least. And while you may think to judge us for continuing to use such an obvious name, I have bad news. Because you still use its complement, Spring, short for "The Spring of the Leaf". Say what you will about American English, but at least, in this, we're consistent.
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And the Americans started off by calling it Aluminium while the Brits called it Aluminum.
Mr.Webster of dictionary fame decided to only use Aluminum in his publication so that took over.
The Brits changed to using Aluminium after a German called it as such.
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So true! The next three elements that come right after it are Siliconium, Phosphorusium, and Sulfurium! So why wouldn't it be Aluminium?! LOL
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Well, the problem is saying that almost all the elements end with -ium, which makes this a non-issue from the jump. Also, according to the wiki article on aluminum, the US and UK basically swapped their preferred spellings - the -ium form was first preferred in the US, while the UK preferred the -um form, then they each adopted the other instead.
Also: the latin for lead(Pb) is plumbum, not plumbium. Same thing for gold(Au). It's Aurum, not Aurium. Same for Iron(Fe). Ferrum not Ferrium.
You know what really grinds my gears as a non-native speaker? Salmon. Why in the motherfuckium does that word have a silent L?? Get a spelling reform you assholes.
Now try: "Colonel"
As a native speaker, I think it's orders of magnitude worse.
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So is it Molybdenium now?
That's not even an issue.
Try asking them why renaming Natrium to Sodium.
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Aluminuminium. Make everyone angry.
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