Chemical Words List

An anonymous reader writes "Mark Nandor, a teacher of mathematics at The Wellington School, has recently posted a new chemical words page. For those who haven't seen this before, it is a list of English words that can be spelled using chemical symbols."

Comments

First page?!

[dartarrow]

Is this really front page worthy? FTA: "If you use this page in your research, classroom, &c., please reference me!"

How many of us has a class in "pointless waste of time"?

Sounds like your chemistry is a little RUST-y.

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd go on with more examples, but I'd rather not compound your problems.

Re:Excellllllent!

[Red Flayer]

Off the top of my head, some definitions of these (mostly) (relatively) common words:

Acacias -- pl., Acacia. N. A family of shrubs (trees?). Acacia gum is a pretty common ingredient in foodstuffs.

Carnies -- pl., Carny. N. A non-temporary worker at a carnival. Carnies have their own culture, some of which is not considered "healthy" by modern us moral standards.

Fireboats -- pl., Fireboat. N. A type of ship used extensively in the Colonial/Victorian era, often a converted civil vessel, used in ship-to-ship combat in close quarters. Modern, a boat used to fight fires.

Lanners -- pl., Lanner. N. A bird of prey, used in falconry. I think it's Mediterranean.

Samisens -- pl., Samisen. N. A musical instrument of Eastern origin -- India?

Tawer -- N. A leatherworker... I think this is like a tanner.

I mean, really, these words are not all that odd. Some of them are not in common usage outside their fields, but I some across the first three words fairly often. Not so much lanner and tawer, but as a Medieval and Renaissance buff (like many a good Slashdot nerd), I've heard them before. And samisen is common enough to those with an interest in culturally diverse or historical music.

"What a nonesevently cromulent enumeration"

Whereas, 'nonesevently' and 'cromulent' are not words (though 'cromulent' appeared on the Simpsons as a joke). Enumeration is perfectly valid, and you've used it correctly in this context ;) .

On the other hand, there are plenty of words on the list that are way, way too obscure for one person in a thousand to know.

Re:Not So

[cagle_.25]

You won't go far with that attitude. In life, it is impossible to know whether or not you really know something. Science, for example, makes no pretentions about "truth"; it simply presents models concerning the best possible interpretations of the evidence. See here and here.