Off Topic

[Viricide Filly]

You don't see anything wrong in your way of saying Aluminium? THERE'S A GOD DAMN I IN BETWEEN THE U AND N.

I think it's spelled differently in American...

That's even worse. That's incorrect spelling AND it contributes to an overall incorrect pronunciation.

[Master]

You don't see anything wrong in your way of saying Aluminium? THERE'S A GOD DAMN I IN BETWEEN THE U AND N.

I think it's spelled differently in American...

That's even worse. That's incorrect spelling AND it contributes to an overall incorrect pronunciation.

Take a lookie here: http://www.worldwidewords.org/articles/aluminium.htm

[PluMGMK]

Oh God, I almost forgot, the stupid Department of Education Chemistry syllabus here in Ireland spells "sulphur" as "sulfur".

[Rendell]

I've never ever seen a British person say "Toe-may-toe"

I was in UK for few months. In York, Liverpool and Knaresborough. Everywhere people were saying "toe-may-toe".

Besides, such disputs are pointless. Not only about English, but every language. People won't stop saying "toe-may-toe" and other words the way they like only because in some other accent it is wrong. Languages are changing during their history and there is nothing to be so angry about.

[spiraldoor]

Oh God, I almost forgot, the stupid Department of Education Chemistry syllabus here in Ireland spells "sulphur" as "sulfur".

You can blame the IUPAC for that one.

[Adsolution]

You don't see anything wrong in your way of saying Aluminium? THERE'S A GOD DAMN I IN BETWEEN THE U AND N. Even Biffy Clyro said something about it in the song "Born On A Horse"
Herbs does not have a silent H and I've never ever seen a British person say "Toe-may-toe". It's toe-mah-toe. And I'm not insulting you people, I'm just insulting your language. Colour has a u in it for example. It's not rocket science

There's nothing wrong with different spellings/pronunciation even though I do agree that the American modifications, wherever they came from, are rather stupid.

At this point, I just wish people could spell, period. I don't care which origin it's from. Too many people cannot do this.

[Viricide Filly]

I've never ever seen a British person say "Toe-may-toe"

I was in UK for few months. In York, Liverpool and Knaresborough. Everywhere people were saying "toe-may-toe".

It might be just Scotland then

[PluMGMK]

Oh God, I almost forgot, the stupid Department of Education Chemistry syllabus here in Ireland spells "sulphur" as "sulfur".

You can blame the IUPAC for that one.

Yeah, I see that. It's actually quite amusing to see my teacher write notes on the board, trying to force herself to spell it with an f, but almost unnoticeably switching back as she moves on.

Also, Chrome's dictionary tells me that "unnoticeably" isn't a word, even though "unnoticeable" is, and so is "noticeably".

[Adsolution]

^Chrome's dictionary also assigns American English automatically to Canadian owners, which is bloody irritating.

It might be just Scotland then

In Whistler here, where the population is at least fifty percent British, virtually everyone says Toe-May-Toe.

[Haruka]

It is also funny how Brazilians pronounciate some words.

[Shrooblord]

I can't stand American English, but I ESPECIALLY cannot stand their pronunciations. Ah-loo-min-um? Toe-may-toe? The fuck?

I love it when they pronounce the word "herb" with a silent "h". It's like they think they're French all of a sudden.

Aha yes. I remember the first time I heard the American pronounciation of 'herb' in an episode of House...

Also, in English, I think it was originally, at least, supposed to be [toe-mah-toe]. The one thing I don't like about American pronounciation is if the speaking starts to sound lazy, like they can't make an effort to pronounce syllables. It may not even be their fault - it could be the accent they grew up
with - but it bothers me nonetheless.

Concerning the chemistry debate, at least [a-loo-mee-uhm] and [a-lu-mi-nee-um] still sound alike. You still know what both sides are talking about. In Dutch, certain elements get such radically different names, that I always have to stop and think what the English word for them was again;
e.g.
Potassium - Kalium
Sodium - Natrium
Sulphur - Zwavel

[Adsolution]

The one thing I don't like about American pronounciation is if the speaking starts to sound lazy, like they can't make an effort to pronounce syllables. It may not even be their fault - it could be the accent they grew up
with - but it bothers me nonetheless.

I think that's somewhat hypocritical, seeing as the British are just as lazy with consonants. What about the Ts? Where did they go?

Also, are you referring to a Southern-Carolinian accent or the standard American accent?

[PluMGMK]

TBH, whenever I read the symbols for Potassium or Sodium, all I see is "Kalium" and "Natrium" as well, even though I've never spoken Dutch.

[Adsolution]

I hear both the English and Dutch words echo in my head, overlaying eachother when I see the symbol.

[Shrooblord]

The one thing I don't like about American pronounciation is if the speaking starts to sound lazy, like they can't make an effort to pronounce syllables. It may not even be their fault - it could be the accent they grew up
with - but it bothers me nonetheless.

I think that's somewhat hypocritical, seeing as the British are just as lazy with consonants. What about the Ts? Where did they go?

Also, are you referring to a Southern-Carolinian accent or the standard American accent?

What? No, I mean when the speaking itself sounds lazy, like they're dragging the words out of their mouths with as much effort as they can. Look, trying to explain the matter is only making me sound more harsh than I meant to come across as, but it's the style of speaking that some have I dislike. Actually, the Southern accents sound okay to me since I've been watching The Closer.

Just out of curiousity though, what Ts?

Chemistry-wise, the Dutch forms are easy to remember, as they clearly match the chemical symbol, but the English ones, I find hard to grasp. This is the worst with sodium and potassium - the others I know, because the symbols look like they're derived from the English word (even though it's most likely the Latin form).

[Adsolution]

What? No, I mean when the speaking itself sounds lazy, like they're dragging the words out of their mouths with as much effort as they can. Look, trying to explain the matter is only making me sound more harsh than I meant to come across as, but it's the style of speaking that some have I dislike. Actually, the Southern accents sound okay to me since I've been watching The Closer.

Standard American and British don't differ on the way they 'drag' their words, and they have a very similar pace, so I'm not sure what you mean; the only real difference is the way the vowels and consonants are made. The only instance in which the 'word dragging' comes into play are the Southern accents.

[stan423321]

Concerning the chemistry debate, at least [a-loo-mee-uhm] and [a-lu-mi-nee-um] still sound alike. You still know what both sides are talking about. In Dutch, certain elements get such radically different names, that I always have to stop and think what the English word for them was again;
e.g.
Potassium - Kalium
Sodium - Natrium
Sulphur - Zwavel

Both Kalium and Natrium seem to be copied from Latin anyway. But I disgress. In Poland, we call oxygen "tlen", which is shorter than "oxygen", so it stuck - and etymologically, it's heavily obfuscated word meaning "burnium"; however loads of things follow the same pattern as either English or Latin, sometimes except the useless -ium.

[sergiomonty]

Well guys, thanks to your contributions my comic appeared on the frontpage of videogames.memebase.com
As I promised, I'll post a picture of myself cosplaying as the magician soon

[Keane]

I think Strontium remains to be the most entertaining to hear a teacher try to be serious about.

[Shrooblord]

In Dutch? Sure.

Hearing English astrophysicists talk about the seventh planet from our Sun can also be quite fun, if you're into that kind of stuff.