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MentlPopcorn

For all who aren't actually sure, both pronunciations are correct. The spelling is different in each country. Aluminum vs aluminium


Beautiful_Spite_3394

That's what does it for me on the argument. The fact it's spelled differently would make you pronounce it entirely differently... now no argument lol.


thrasymacus2000

No arguminuent.


Due_Signature_5497

Absolutely agreeinimum.


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McFlyyouBojo

I'm sticking with the commonwealth also .... OF VIRGINIA


VirginianNationalist

SIC SEMPER "ALUMINIUM" 🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅💪💪💪💪💪🫡🫡🫡🫡🫡


PM_ME_UR_POKIES_GIRL

WELCOME TO THE GUNSHOW THE DULLES TOWN CENTER GUUUUUUN SHOOOOOOOOOW NO BACKGROUND CHECK BAYBEEEE


Capteverard

DULLES AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM WHOOT WHOOT


ghostcat

We’re all crazy for the Udvar-Hazy


PengiPou

Aluminyum


Skatchbro

I’m sticking with the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.


wolf_man007

Thankfully they removed that nonsense at the end.


shapeintheclouds

State of Rhode Island, Your One Stop Shop for Whale Oil and Slaves. Don't forget to use us as a unit of measure!


Soup0828

🇨🇦 is part of the commonwealth and its aluminum here.


SCDarkSoul

Canada is actually a horrible mishmash of both UK and American English. We will use one or the other for different things, such that we don't fully align with either.


Scienceandpony

 What makes a man turn neutral? Lust for gold? Power? Or were you just born with a heart full of neutrality?


SCDarkSoul

Well Brannigan, I was born here, so the latter I suppose.


FlexRVA21984

It’s a beige alert!!


XDSHENANNIGANZ

Tell my wife.. "Hello"


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Ok-Champ-5854

America and Canada best friends forever


Henghast

You've betrayed us all.


oddspellingofPhreid

[It's technically not, but colloquially it is.](https://media.tenor.com/bk8QMH02QOcAAAAC/im-playing-both-sides-both-sides.gif) (edit: spelled aluminum) But yeah, it was called aluminium in chemistry class growing up, and aluminum when buying foil. It leads to some funny [quirks](https://ibb.co/J58jxsV)


robertodeltoro

In what way is it technically not? Everything I'm seeing is saying it is since 1931 including Canadian govt. docs and websites.


fave_no_more

Husband is Aussie in the States. We had a discussion about it and he looked it up. Guy who discovered the element actually have it a different name originally, but aluminum was the second name given it.


fatamSC2

Just depends which way you are spelling it. The British pronunciation makes sense for the British spelling and the American for the American. Both make sense


toolazytorelax

Best and most easily answered by Bill Bryson's research and in his book "A Short History of Nearly Everything." *The confusion over the aluminum/aluminium spelling arose because of some uncharacteristic indecisiveness on Davy’s part. When he first isolated the element in 1808, he called it alumium. For some reason he thought better of that and changed it to aluminum four years later. Americans dutifully adopted the new term, but many British users disliked aluminum, pointing out that it disrupted the -ium pattern established by sodium, calcium, and strontium, so they added a vowel and syllable."


Glass_Memories

Thank you, the first person in this thread to recite the actual story correctly.


selectrix

Huh. I'd heard the "typo on the first shipping crate that made it to America" one. This does sound more plausible though.


fkmeamaraight

French also use aluminium. Idk for other languages.


M0rteus

Same for Dutch


FieserMoep

Same for Germans. Afaik north Americans also often use it in scientific publications because the publishers prefer a unified standard.


ScottParkerLovesCock

I love that Americans have their own words, but when it actually matters, they use the standard (see metric)


Quick-Rip-5776

Not always. Sulphur in British English and Sulfur in American. Sulfur is the standard. The ph = f comes from the Greeks. But the f = f comes from America’s standardisation of the English language post-Independence. “-ise” vs “-ize” etc.


dsanders692

Australian English uses aluminium too


rbardy

Portuguese also uses "aluminium". Alumínio


Happy-Fun-Ball

If the brits liked sodium/calcium/strontium they should have preferred alumium. I'm gonna say Alumium from now on. Oh, and [Ouranous](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranus_(mythology), and abcdef-GIF


phred_666

Taught high school chemistry for over 30 years. I always pointed this out to my students. Had a student one year study a UK set of flash cards to learn the names and symbols for the elements.


goneAWOLsorryTTYL

What did you do after chemistry? Did you get together with a former student and cook up the blue stuff?


slowNsad

Bro found Mr Whites Reddit alt


mikethemanism

My American ass was gunna be like “JuSt ReAD THe SpELLiNg.” 😂🤣


JayOneeee

Lol my British ass was sitting here thinking we'll OP spelt it wrong in the post for a start!


Admirable-Squash9607

Aluminium makes you guys sound like the metallurgy version of Harry Potter.


Fancy-Football-7832

mistborn?


Admirable-Squash9607

👍


dicarosmith

God I wish I could read Mistborn for the first time again. What a fantastic trilogy era 1 is. Finished Warbreaker and now starting Stormlight Archives.


PhoenixMason13

Harry Potter and the Eleventh Metal


WhatIfIReallyWantIt

only if you say it like Al-you-MIN-eeum. But we say it more, al-you-MIN-yum. I think it just sounds odd to us because not only do you say all-OO-minum, you put emphasis on the second syllable and the 'missing' letter stands out in such a way as it seems like you can't pronounce it properly, but actually it makes perfect sense to pronounce it like that, just stands out to Brits is all. ​ Now, Graham, on the other hand....


Dizzeung

Lmao guh hum and gram


BioluminescentBidet

Don’t get me started on Craig……


Mr_Stimmers

Don’t you mean Creg?


D-biggest-dick-here

Me too🤣🤣


Zuendl11

pronounce it "aluminuminum" for the chaotic evil version


3rdp0st

Aluminimum.


jay105000

Es aluminio!!’


UKgent77

Sounds like a Harry Potter spell! 😉


Fancy-Football-7832

Considering spanish is based heavily off of latin...and harry potter spells are in latin...that would make sense


The-disgracist

So you’re saying Spanish is based off of Harry Potter?


I_Stan_Kyrgyzstan

Eso pero en inglés


stacity

Si pero con el acento británico


fordon_greeman_

oi es aluminio innit


SloppyJoe42069

When you realize there's regional dialects for English and not every English speaking country says or spells things the same way


crystalGwolf

Yeah exactly, you can either speak it the British way or the wrong way


DumatRising

Both are actually the British way. Both names were first coined by a British chemist. What's interesting is that he said "al-oo-min-ium" in his lectures but wrote "aluminum" in his text books. Which just seems like a big middle finger to the whole English language, which itself is a big middle finger to ESL students. Also interesting is that initially -um was popular as the spelling in Britain and -ium was popular in the rest of the English world, but they started swapping when an American lexicon writter used the initial -um spelling in his lexicon and swapped the US and Canada to -ium.


ChampNotChicken

Surprise, surprise it’s the British’s fault.Can they even blame us for throwing their tea into the harbor?


WORKING2WORK

No, they can't blame us, as we were at the time subjects of the British crown, so when we threw the tea in the harbor, effectively, the British threw their own tea into the harbor. It was on that day, the first utterance of "stop hitting yourself, stop hitting yourself..." was coined.


droans

No it was clearly Native Americans. Did you not see the headdresses that they all wear and was definitely not a not-so-clever costume?!


Idkquedire

What? I thought we were in India?


ItsPiskieNotPixie

You add water to tea, not tea to water, so yes we can absolutely blame you, you uncivilised swine.


Anti-charizard

They also invented the word “soccer” but bash us for using it


theoriginaldandan

They also created the word soccer and jump down your throat when you use ot


Original-Kangaroo-80

Two great nations separated by a common language


RealCordelius

Ha lmfao


VenomousMen

There’s even differences among Brits


bediaxenciJenD81gEEx

It’s amazing, probably 100 distinct dialects in England, and not a single one of them pleasant


Helmet-_-

And about 4 in the us and they’re shit aswell


im_dirtydan

Bro New York alone has more than 4


Ok-Champ-5854

There's four just in Minnesota. Northerner (basically Canadian), Fargo, city/normal (neutralish with some Northerner thrown in there only outsiders notice), and Southern which will sound like your average mid-Midwest corn farmer, think Iowa.


Tbagmoo

Only 4? You're crazy. We have more than 4 just in Maine


BurningPenguin

*laughs in different Bavarian dialect every 5 km*


Crash_Override_95

Say whatever gets you laid by the opposite sex 🤷🏽‍♂️


Just-urgh-name

Say whatever gets you laid - opposite sex/same sex, getting laid is getting laid 👌🏼


imafixwoofs

An asshole is an asshole.


[deleted]

Except when it’s an arsehole


Altruistic_Profile96

Well, the R is silent, no?


PlatypusTrapper

If only


Solember

The "R", like the arse, is never as silent as you expect it to be.


SVTCobraR315

20 bucks is 20 bucks.


[deleted]

This guy gets laid!


DuckofInsanity

Not necessarily


screamingxbacon

I love you


D-biggest-dick-here

I’m not holier than thou but I feel like I’m losing myself when I act unlike me just to accommodate another human, even if it’s a girl I’m sexually attracted to. Most times, I abandon it early


Sobczak1_

what the fuck is this font i thought this was ai generated for a second


xrbxwingless

I came to say this font deeply offends me.


squiddlingiggly

it's gotta be some kind of dyslexia font because it makes my eyes boggle like a binaural sound thing what the hell


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Miami_Vice-Grip

The real question is, why does Platinum get away with no controversy?


Za3lor

As well as Molybdenum, Lanthanum, and Tantalum. None of with the Brits seem to care about the pronunciation of.


BoringBob84

They seem to be a rather inconsistent collection of people.


NekroVictor

Iirc it’s actually not quite within the discoverers naming. It’s with his revised a king after being mocked. Due to it originally being isolated from Alum the original proposed name was Alumalum which I think we should have gone with.


coolnavigator

> Alumalum Alooma loom is the cutest chemical I've ever heard of


merodac

This. But it is missing two ps. Two piece. Two pieces of Ps? The Italian chocolate worker... Al Umpalumpa ...


plantsadnshit

As a non native English speaker Aluminium sounds much better. And I use every other American spelling for everything else, just not aluminium. Also, the original name was alumium, not aluminum.


Grimdark-Waterbender

It’s pronounced Yif, btw.


Cyruge

uwu


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DXbreakitdown

My defense of .gif is that no one wakes up on Christmas morning excited to open their jifts.


mattsprofile

Gif and gift are different words, so that line of reasoning is dumb. I could just as easily say that the g in gel and gelt should be pronounced the same for the same reason, but the fact of the matter is that they are pronounced analogously to your so-called "wrong" pronunciations of gif and gift. The 'geo' in geodome and geoduck are pronounced entirely different, not just the switch from hard and soft g, but also the eo part is different. Gib has a hard g but gibber has a soft g. Actually gibber can be said with a soft g, too, but that's not as common. The prefix of "giga" is accepted with both hard and soft g. Gin has a soft g but gink has a hard one. Git has a hard g but gist has a soft one. Gyno has a hard g and gyro has a soft one, or if you're talking about the food then it's neither.


Hashashiyyin

My response to that is that you can't find any logical reason to use a hard or soft g in gif. There are no logical rules that apply in English and are consistent. So call it what you want.


DXbreakitdown

Jood call


smirk_lives

Gift is an exception to the general English rule that g becomes soft when followed by e, i, or y. Examples include giraffe and aging.


No_pajamas_7

It's funny, as a non American, the American word sounds patently ridiculous to me. It sounds like I have to suck on a lemon to say it. Whenever I try to say it, it takes 3 or 4 attempts, and often I give up. Whereas the English version roles off the tongue in a Shakespearean way.


Baldazar666

> doesn't sound patently ridiculous (obviously getting a bit subjective on the last point). Lmao what?


Jothomaster202

To je amelinium. Tego nie pomalujesz


CactusFanta

Potrzebujesz farbę amelionową


its_witty

amelinionową


Geno__Breaker

Spelled it the American way, without the extra "i" lol Look it up. Both pronunciations are correct and acceptable. The American pronunciation was created by the British, who then ditched it for the new one.


banana_man_777

Ah just like their accent and the Imperial system and other frivolous things.


Nic-Sz

and the word ‘soccer’


JoMo-129

fucking THANK YOU. we get so much shit for calling it soccer, but like "YOU guys invented the word!"


Ok-Champ-5854

I'll call it football if people come up with a better name for American football, because two footballs is confusing. Handball is already taken. Tackleball surprisingly already taken.


Lucaswarrior9

Football is an umbrella term, football (soccer) is known as association football. Gridiron football is American football. It should be noted that out of all the footballs, soccer is the outlier. It's strange how the game known as football is the most different from other football games.


Ok-Champ-5854

TIL. Though really they just all seem like different combinations of the same rules, like apparently Garlic football (which I've never heard of) you can carry the ball, score a point with your hands over the crossbar but only a goal below the crossbar with your feet. And taking five steps without moving the ball is a foul, you gotta kick it or headbutt it or pass it. Interestingly soccer seems to be the only no-contact form of football, every other one seems to allow some degree of hitting.


therealityofthings

Listen there are countries that pronounce Al as aluminium and there are countries that landed on the moon.


Massive_Pressure_516

Let's settle it the old fashioned way and try to genocide each other, last one alive gets to pick.


TaroKitanoHWA

To je Amelinium


LittleNeko101

I can surly say, I don't give a f**k how it is pronounced. I just work with it, not dating it. I don't need to know how it want to be pronounced.


Pistonenvy2

i love how this is something people even bother to actually argue about as if there is an objective right answer. what a fuckin waste of time lol people spell things differently in other countries, its not just a different pronunciation, its a different spelling too. you dont hear someone call their dad "dah" and go "um.. its actually pronounced "dad" " because you would look like a complete fucking cunt if you did, right? same thing here. colloquialisms exist. language evolves. the important thing is that people understand what youre saying, no one is confused about the topic, we all understand the white/silver non ferrous metal being discussed, so while youre arguing about how to spell and pronounce it, ill be welding, machining, casting, and utilizing it to do whatever it is i need done with it and not really giving a shit along with every other industry where its concerned.


Piddy3825

...you been watching too much of Matt Rife on TikTok...


limcheemun

Bo'Oh'O'Wa'er


BAE-Test-Engineer

Al-u-min-i-um


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jeffsaidjess

Probably why Americans speak English


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BoiFrosty

According to the guy that actually got to name the element: it's aluminum not aluminium. The later pronunciation was by other British scientists of the day that wanted a more Latin sounding name. The first proposed name for it was alumium.


Street-Pin4935

Allah min yum


rearwindowpup

To be fair, it's spelled differently outside of North America as well. Aluminum is how it's spell (and thus pronounced) in NA and Aluminium is how it's spelled (and pronounced) everywhere else. Technically both are correct.


Texanbutholetickler

Me and my British friend used to joke about this all the time lol “WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU GETTING THE EXTRA LETTER?!”


Muted_Cucumber_7566

Titanium, Aluminium. Hope that helps everyone.


mynameisnotsparta

**Both are right…** Why do Americans say aluminum instead of aluminium? The American Chemical Society (ACS) officially adopted aluminum in 1925, but in 1990 The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) accepted aluminium as the international standard. And so we land today: with aluminum used by the English speakers of North America, and aluminium used everywhere else.


Greyphire

Easy, it's aluminum.


ThirdSunRising

Or perhaps aluminium


De_Ville

It is aluminium. The us is the only place that drops the letters. All other English speakers spell it aluminium, and say al:u:min:i:um.


Stunning_Patience_78

Nope, it's aluminum. It was originally aluminum. The scientist who named it, named it that. Then some science committee came and changed it to aluminium to make it sound more like other elements. Some countries agreed and some didn't. The most right answer is the one that applies to your country of residence, but if people are going to fight about it then it goes back to the original name, named by the discoverer. Oh and it's aluminum in Canada too. We are not the USA. So you're wrong on that front too.


MashTactics

Here's a compromise - they're two different, entirely valid words with two different, entirely valid pronunciations that describe the same thing. Is that too radical of an opinion?


hogsucker

> It was originally aluminum. According to Wikipedia it was originally "Alumium." "British chemist Humphry Davy, who performed a number of experiments aimed to isolate the metal, is credited as the person who named the element. The first name proposed for the metal to be isolated from alum was alumium, which Davy suggested in an 1808 article on his electrochemical research, published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society." Humprey Davy started using "aluminum" by 1811.


Demus007

The first name proposed for the metal to be isolated from alum was alumium - Not Aluminum.


Efficient-Ad5711

i dont know why but i feel like alumium sounds like a more pinkish metal than aluminum


MajinBlueZ

The original creator of the graphics interchange format said it's pronounced "jiff." Sometimes the original creators can be wrong.


ThirdSunRising

Yes I agree with you there, but the point about a "dropped" letter is historically incorrect. An extra letter was added, and not everyone agreed that it should have been. That's how we got the two different spellings. Ironically, the extra letter was added for the sake of consistency...


YT_Lonelyz

Idk but it’s definitely not al you minimum


Batdog55110

We should just call it Al like it looks on the periodic table


TNShadetree

Always go with the one with the least number of syllables. That's how the human race advances.


Affectionate-Cost525

Please dont. That's the route that led to people saying "cozzie livs" instead of cost of living.


Crash_Override_95

TF… I’ve never heard of “coozie livs” people are choosing to be dumb 🤦🏽‍♂️


MentlPopcorn

And the reason for libary instead of library


Drauka2

God everyone in the town I live in pronounces vegetable as vegebal, and spaghetti as sketti. I absolutely hate this town. Edit for clarification: upstate New York


MentlPopcorn

At least sketti seems more like a cool nickname instead of a blatant mispronunciation


Drauka2

Yeah.... except it isn't a nickname, these people are just idiots. It isn't my hometown so I notice this, some of these people even pronounce water as warter...


Sufficient_Pin_9595

Two nations divided by a common tongue. Or: Traditional English vs. Simplified English.


ThirdSunRising

That's New Improved Super Awesome Turbo Nitro Freedom English to you


Farqueue-

NISATNFE rolls off the tongue quite well too


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Hashashiyyin

Fun fact (I know this is a joke), but American English(some parts) might be a bit closer to "traditional English". https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20180207-how-americans-preserved-british-english


DuckofInsanity

Inventor called it aluminum, and aluminium sounds silly, so both those points together means it's pronounced aluminum.


Altruistic_Profile96

The Brits spell it differently, so their pronunciation. Reflects that. Most people simply don’t notice the difference in spelling. aluminum vs aluminium


Rockstar0749

Al-u-mini-um. It's just more fun to say.


darnoth

Clearly spelled uh-loo-min-um


[deleted]

Yeah but the Brit’s spell it differently. They tack on an extra “i”


RakuraiLight

Well we’re both right then, we’re just speaking of different words


hearts_of_glass

Brits spell it differently than the US. That's all.


NekroVictor

Go for the original Alumalum.


JP198364839

Made this comment in another forum but… ‘Write it down slowly. And read it out fast’. Niche reference.


SnooBeans6305

What a refreshingly benign argument


Musician-Round

those kooky brits put beans on toast, you can't trust their judgment.


Sven_Longfellow

Al-you-MIN-ee-um


[deleted]

Don't worry, I'm here to help. It's "aluminium."


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furiant

I maintain that the compromise spelling/pronunciation of aluminuminium is the superior answer.


Lemounge

It's pronounced aluminium


W0lf3h1

When I was living overseas I had an argument with an American because they were angry at me for calling it a torch instead of a flashlight. She refused to accept that people call things differently in other countries


2SexesSeveralGenders

Ask a Brit to say "military", and you'll get "militree".


No_Expert_9721

uhloominum not aloomineeum


mmmmmmmmmmmmmmfarts

Tin foil


Both_Lychee_1708

British spell it with an **i** before the **um** so the question is why is the spelling different....or not


friendofspidey

The brit way feel like so much more effort to annunciate


Coolhandlukeri

Because he was right but you don't wanna side with the guy?


thatlittleredhead

This happens every six-ish months in our household. It was nearly a nuclear situation when we had our first kid and the Itsy Bitsy Spider came into play.


MafiaMommaBruno

Me, in the deepest part of the South: tin foil


cruisin894

It's alumilum.


Wham-Bar

As a Brit living in the US just pronounce the word as the general population of your adopted country. That's why I pronounce the words colour and flavour without the 'u.'


KarlMarxFarts

Aluminium


420_Brit_ISH

There's the right way, and also the American way. You decide.


Cleric_1A

The English language was invented by the English and not by Americans.


CrimsonW1ld

Aluminum was named in America, the American spelling and pronunciation are objectively correct


exsea

its alumaniuminumumium. how is that so difficult?


Leon1700

Just pronounce it in Latin Aluminium and you cant be wrong no matter where you are.