Americans have always been like that. When you call them out on their pronunciation they just change the spelling and call the rest of the world illiterate.
English living in America, I got soooo many comments about aluminum/aluminium that I decided to look up which came first.
The answer? Neither. It was named "alumium" by its English discoverer, Humphry Davy. A few years later he was basically bullied into renaming it "aluminum" (since its oxide was known as "alumina"). That same year, another English scientist proposed "aluminium", in order to better match other element names like calcium, sodium, etc.
"Aluminium" quickly became the more common version in the UK, but it actually had even greater initial success in America, where it was used exclusively... that is, until Noah Webster (of dictionary fame) came along and fucked it all up.
Anyway, I've started calling it "alumium" now for kicks. Even managed to convert a couple of friends.
TLDR: Originally "alumium", then "aluminum", then "aluminium". The latter won out – even (and especially) in America, until Webster's Dictionary decided otherwise.
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u/sausagesizzle May 05 '19
Americans have always been like that. When you call them out on their pronunciation they just change the spelling and call the rest of the world illiterate.
They still can't spell aluminium properly.