Weldor aka Egotist

The surest sign of an egotistical welder is an insistence on spelling his occupation with an "or" on the end.

Ned Simmons

"Ned Simmons" wrote: The surest sign of an egotistical welder is an insistence on spelling his occupation with an "or" on the end. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ My welders are made of steel and copper, and don't have a mind of their own--hence, no ego.

Even though I know I don't weld very well, I still think I am a worthwhile person, so I guess I have a big ego .

There used to be a person here who corrected everyone re: welder/weldor. Is he still around, or does anyone know who I am referring to?

A weldor is a person who welds. A welder is a machine for welding.

And yes, the terms are interchangeable, and in regular speech, one cannot see if it is an e or an o.

Steve

The Brits also say "aluminium" ..... notice the extra "i". Is that the way they also spell it, or just the way they pronounce it? Whenever I hear it, I wonder if it is like some Southerners unable to say ask, but rather aks.

Steve

"Christopher Tidy" wrote >> The Brits also say "aluminium" ..... notice the extra "i". Is that the way

"We" as in "?" Where are you from?

I have always spelled it aluminum. I believe Alcoa spells it that way, too, in their ads. I live in America, and believe I have always seen it spelled with one "i" in this country.

Steve

Interesting. It seems the spelling with an "or" is an American thing. In England it's "er" all the time, whether it refers to the machine or the person.

Chris

This is interesting. Can you, or anyone, provide any history on this? I believe Al (from the periodic chart) is a relatively new metal. I believe the element has been around for quite a while, but metalworking in Al, particularly welding and casting is relatively new, isn't it? I'd like to hear the evolution of the different words.

Steve

We spell it with the extra "i" too.

Chris

"We" referred to "The Brits" in your previous post :-).

Chris

It seems that "aluminium" was the accepted spelling in the USA until Charles Martin Hall, the inventor of the electrolytic process for aluminium production, published an advertisement with the spelling "aluminum":

Chris

US-english is the only (?) language that left out the "extra" i. German, French, Italian, UK-English has it.

Nick

I think that was Mike Graham, tilting at windmills.

Lincoln makes that distinction in its literature. I can't find it anywhere else among the materials I have at hand. "Weldor" doesn't occur in either of my dictionaries (Funk&Wagnalls or OED), even as an alternate spelling.

This online dictionary does list "weldor" as an alternate spelling...

On Google "weldor" gets 21,700 hits (1230 of which also mention "Mike Graham" ). "Welder" yields 7,320,000

Yeah, but it's clear to me that "er" is the standard spelling.

Ned Simmons

In lots of literature I have seen, the "weldor" is referred to as the "operator", particularly when it comes to testing.

Steve

====================== Somewhere I read that when AlCoA was first starting out they had a bunch of letter heads or business cards printed with "aluminum" rather than "aluminium" and did not have the money to get these reprinted.

Unka George

(George McDuffee)

Let us remember -- I against my brother I and my brother against our cousin I, my brother and our cousin against the neighbors All of us against the foreigner. Bedouin Proverb. Quoted by Bruce Chatwin in: The Songlines, ch. 30, "From the Notebooks" (1987).

================ "If you done it, it ain't braggin'."

Unka George

(George McDuffee)

Let us remember -- I against my brother I and my brother against our cousin I, my brother and our cousin against the neighbors All of us against the foreigner. Bedouin Proverb. Quoted by Bruce Chatwin in: The Songlines, ch. 30, "From the Notebooks" (1987).

"Steve B" wrote: This is interesting. Can you, or anyone, provide any history on this? I believe Al (from the periodic chart) is a relatively new metal. (clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Since you mention the periodic tables, I would like to point this out: Almost all the metals end in "ium."--sodium, lithium, calcium, cadmium, chromium, etc. The exceptions are the ones that don't follow the pattern at all, like iron, mercury, copper. Aluminum looks like it ought to have the "ium" ending, but for some reason, in the US, it doesn't.

I've seen it too, but, I'm certain that "weldor" is a hoax perpetrated by a bored copywriter at Lincoln Electric who knew that welding operators, who felt they weren't getting the respect they deserved, would appreciate the je ne sais quoi that "or" lends to their job title.

Ned Simmons

Unobtanium...

.>> Since you mention the periodic tables, I would like to point this out:

There are a few of the rarer metals which also have "-um" endings. Tantalum, platinum, molybdenum, and maybe some more...but I can't think of them...

Chris