We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.
Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]
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Samizdata quote of the day Among a fringe community of paranoids, aluminum helmets serve as the protective measure of choice against invasive radio signals. We investigate the efficacy of three aluminum helmet designs on a sample group of four individuals. Using a $250,000 network analyser, we find that although on average all helmets attenuate invasive radio frequencies in either directions (either emanating from an outside source, or emanating from the cranium of the subject), certain frequencies are in fact greatly amplified. These amplified frequencies coincide with radio bands reserved for government use according to the Federal Communication Commission (FCC). Statistical evidence suggests the use of helmets may in fact enhance the government’s invasive abilities. We speculate that the government may in fact have started the helmet craze for this reason.
– Ali Rahimi, Ben Recht, Jason Taylor, and Noah Vawter of MIT, getting down to the really important research. I wonder what they think of lampshades? (Link from Scott Wickstein).
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Who Are We? The Samizdata people are a bunch of sinister and heavily armed globalist illuminati who seek to infect the entire world with the values of personal liberty and several property. Amongst our many crimes is a sense of humour and the intermittent use of British spelling.
We are also a varied group made up of social individualists, classical liberals, whigs, libertarians, extropians, futurists, ‘Porcupines’, Karl Popper fetishists, recovering neo-conservatives, crazed Ayn Rand worshipers, over-caffeinated Virginia Postrel devotees, witty Frédéric Bastiat wannabes, cypherpunks, minarchists, kritarchists and wild-eyed anarcho-capitalists from Britain, North America, Australia and Europe.
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Michael Jennings – you are an Aussie? What are you doing writing ‘aluminum’? Is this Aussie spelling?
Aluminum is the American spelling. And this study is bogus, everyone knows that you need tinfoil (not aluminum foil) to make the best mind-control-wave protection helmets. Sheesh!
Why is an Aussie doing American spelling? That is my point, Moriarty! I fear some waves may have already seeped through!
You’re still using aluminium/tin foil? That’s so…er…old hat. Try velostat.
Michael: thanks so much for the lampshade link, I cannot believe I missed it then – a riot!
Isn’t “tinfoil” made made exclusively of aluminium these days?
…all helmets attenuate invasive radio frequencies in either directions (either emanating from an outside source, or emanating from the cranium of the subject). There is a blessing in disguise for you.
Verity,
On this (although certainly not on everything) Australians follow the British and go for “aluminium”. However, I am quoting the abstract of a spoof report. As it was published in America, I quote the American spelling. (Actually I cut and paste the American spelling).
That said, I can’t get worked up about this kind of thing. American spellings that are different from the British are clearly legitimate variants, and insisting on the British just strikes me as a fairly tiresome form of snobbery.
Andy,
The security-industrial complex doesn’t want you to know that the “tinfoil” available at retail is really made of aluminium. Is it really just a coincidence that aluminium foil started to replace real tin in 1910 at the same time as Marconi radios were fitted in the Titanic and the Marconi company could have been developing the first mind-control using electromagnetic radiation?
Actually, I like my helmet. It has to be triple-layer, though, or it won’t keep out the most penetrating rays.
My first guess would have been that the actual material was only of secondary importance, as long as it’s a good conductor. If your hat resonated at certain frequencies, it would more likely be due to the geometry of the cavity.
But enough of that. It’s about time we had a sing-song around here. Click here(Link) to learn the words.
We shouldn’t laugh there are people who really buy this stuff !
That’s precisely why we laugh!
“The security-industrial complex doesn’t want you to know that the “tinfoil” available at retail is really made of aluminium.”
Because they want to force you to buy the aluminum made by a HALLIBURTON subsidiary!!! It is hush-hush cousin who works at Halliburton told me about it.
Michael, Yes. It was a joke. And also yes, many American spellings are the original spellings that were correct when the first settlers went over. (Not aluminum, though.)
American spellings that are different from the British are clearly legitimate variants, and insisting on the British just strikes me as a fairly tiresome form of snobbery.
Tiresomishness, or tiresomosity (I’m not sure which is classier) is an inherent characteristic of snobbery regardless of form. That’s why we don’t associate with snobs.
Were correct in England you mean. They’re just as correct as ever in America. 😉
Aluminum was also the original spelling of the word, though aluminium now seems to be the international preference for reasons *ahem* mysterious.
Pedantically yours etc. etc.
Triticale – Oh really? I have found there is no snob like an American snob. And they’re touchy with it.
Joshua – Touché! I apologise! Of course those spellings and usages are correct American today.
Woe be unto pedantic grammarians; those who insist, against all evidence, that language(s) can be ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ in spelling or usage. They (languages) are living constructs that bend like a reed to the inclinations of the users and the perpetual agonies of the grammarians and philologists. More idiosyncratic spellings, please.
JS Allison. How ridiculous. The point of language is precision. Otherwise we could just point and grunt.
I am smelling an IG NOBEL…
Right!
I don’t think anyone is being pedantic in that sense here. What (I assume) Verity means by “correct,” and what I mean by it, is “standard usage.” It is standard to spell “center” as “centre” in the UK – so that’s the “correct” form for that reason (in the UK). When Michael Jennings, an Australian, uses an American form, it’s not surprising that it raises eyebrows. If you’re raised on “aluminium,” we can assume that writing “aluminum” involves a conscious mental choice. This is annoying in the same way any affected habit is annoying. I myself am highly allergic to Americans who use British spellings (and they are legion in the 20-somethings these days), so it doesn’t surprise me that Verity would kid Michael Jennings about spelling “aluminium” the American way. It’s the affected habit we’re reacting to – not the notion that anyone spelled anything “incorrectly.”
Joshua – Precisely. Anyway, I was only twitting Michael for fun. I didn’t know that 2-somethings in the US were affecting British spelling! When you are 20, you will do anything to try to lead other people think you are sophisticated.
Definitely British spelling is not correct in America. I think the divergence is fascinating. Some American words have been preserved, although lost in Britain. The only one I can think of offhand is Fall, which is a vivid word. In Shakespeare’s time, it was a perfectly unexceptional synonym for Autumn. We lost it and you kept it.
One wonderful thing about the Anglosphere (out of many wonderful things) is, we have an inexhaustible supply of slang, with the US, Britain and Oz being the main contributors. No other group in the world has such a wealth of slang.
Exactly.
I don’t really have a handle on it, but it seems to be mostly the comuter geek crowd. I’ve also noticed that they’re selective about which ones they use. They seem to like “-our” spellings a lot (maybe even more than y’all do!) and “-ise” spellings almost as much. “-re” spellings aren’t so popular with them, and they give themselves away by never ever writing “programme” (which I gather is spelled “program” for computer programs in the UK too? Am I wrong about that? But I’m talking about for “television programme”). They also often forget the purely lexical items – like our example of “aluminum.”
Clear case of affected hypercorrection.
Well, remember that the majority of all native speakers of English live in the US. That’s more than Australia, Canada, the UK, and all the little leftover stuff (if that’s not redundant) combined.
So if we say it’s alluminum, which is the correct neoclassical adaptation anyway, then we’re correct by virtue of argumentum ad populum.
Hardly. British English is a separate strain. Standard usage in the UK decides what’s correct there – ergo “aluminium” is the correct British spelling.
Kaz – You seem to have misunderstood the nature of the Anglosphere. We are not fighting over pronunciation or spelling. We all understand one another’s. That is the glory of the Anglosphere.
If we went by your notion, then 500m middle class Indians pronounce it aluminium, as do 60m Brits and at least 40m other odds and sods. So we see you and raise you by 300m. Why not leave it alone?