Quote:
Originally Posted by Interference  Aluminum was a typo. Somebody left the second 'i' out by mistake and the (adorable) yanks have been pronouncing it that way ever since. Is this the first example of a spelling mistake entering the language (apart from names - I still get a kick out of the way Americans pronounce Mahoney and Kehoe)? |
Not strictly true.
Wiki (for example) clarifies Sir Humphrey Davy's original choice of name, which was later modified to be more consistent with other elements.