>Hi Fred
>
>Remember this discussion?
>
>>>>
>>>>I wont even mention "aluminum". ;)
>>>
>>>Ah but you have!
>>
>>How else could I spell it without mentioning it? ;)
>>
>
>Well I've been reading Bill Bryson's "A short History of Everything" (In case you don't know hime he's an American committed anglophile who lives over here in preference to the US). In the book it turns out that the element Aluminium was discovered by the Brit scientist, Davy (I think he invented the original miner's lamp, famously, the so-called "Davy Lamp", but this was not all).
>
>He originally called it Alumium, but that wasn't liked.
>So he changed it to Aluminum which was readily taken up be the Americans (which it remains to this day).
>However, the British scientific community objected, like I said to you, that it broke the continuum of "ium" words, like "Cadmium", "Thorium", etc. so he changed it to Aluminium.
>
>So there you have it! The American spelling was invented by a Brit! Case solved.

Probably not the first time, I'm sure. People separated by a common language and all not withstanding. ;)