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Sulfur/Sulphur:Correct spelling of Element 16

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Subject: Sulfur/Sulphur:Correct spelling of Element 16
From: Jim Smart <>
Date: Thu, 08 Jul 2004 16:52:14 +1000
Hello to all,
especially Carl and Bob.

In 1990 the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, the supreme international professional organisation of chemists that operates under the umbrella of UNESCO, published a list of standard names for all chemical elements. They decided that element 16 should be spelt “sulfur”. This was not an Americanisation but a compromise to ensure that in future searchable data bases would not be complicated by spelling variants. Other determinations included using “aluminium” rather than the American “aluminum” and "sodium" rather than the more logical German “naterium”. Worldwide the IUPAC nomenclature is being gradually adopted. Even in Britain chemistry examiners are now changing to using the IUPAC terminology.

The problem facing the Birding Community is to what extent we go along with changes made to make information manipulation easier and more accurate. When we have an animal with a crest colored remarkably similar to the color of element 16 in its solid state should it be called “sulfur-crested” to be consistent with standard recommended practice or should we be fuddy-duddies and insist on “sulphur-crested” despite its anachronistic origins and complications in information searching. It is true that HANZAB, Birds Australia and all the field guides currently prefer “sulphur-crested” but this does not necessarily mean that we should use this for all time. Should the spelling of an adjective be consistent with the correct spelling of the noun from which it is derived? Perhaps it is time to revisit the nomenclature of Australian bird names.

Thanks to Carl for his excellent trip report and to Bob for opening this debate. Anne, my partner, thinks that I am being a pedantic old fart in raising this point but I feel that William of Ockham was right when he proposed the principle that we should always avoid unnecessary complications. We should make it as easy as possible for people to learn to use English and to teach the use of English.

Meanwhile back to birding. A flock of sulfur-crested cockatoos flew silently over our house last week. Does anyone know why sometimes they are raucous and at other times silent?

Jim Smart

East Maitland

NSW


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