In article ws.net,
suzee wrote:
MRH wrote:
Just curious, since pronunciations of other words are being discussed in
another thread... Can someone from England please tell me how you, in your
part of the country, pronounce the word ALUMINUM please?

My late mother-in-law (from Ashford Kent) used to say A-lu-MIN-ium. She
is the only person I (or my parents) had ever heard pronounce it this way.
snip
said almost in unison "Ohhhh, aLUminum foil, yes we have that!"
She became very agitated and indignant and said "In England it is
pronounced A-lu-MIN-ium, and since we speak *proper* English that
is the correct way of saying it, NOT the way you say it here in Canada."

That *is* how the word's pronounced in England. Notice that they throw
in an extra `i', so maybe that's why. g

When the metal was first named, it was named aluminum by its UK-citizen
discoverer. Then the UK scientific commnity decided that it should follow
the pattern of things like "barium" and added the "i" (and never mind "aurum").
The US scientific community kept the original spelling. Both are correct.

=Tamar