Flammable and inflammable

[Herb Stahlke]

Gresham's Law in action?


On Fri, Mar 28, 2014 at 10:20 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Flammable and inflammable
>
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>
> Many years ago the U.S. federal government required truck signs to
> display (change to) "flammable" and "non-flammable".  Because many
> people were confused.
>
> For the requirement to change from "inflammable" to "flammable", see
> "Code of Federal Regulations", Title 49, Parts 71 to 90, Revised as
> of January 1, 1964, http://tinyurl.com/k4swopn (GBooks) -- page 7,
> note 1:  "Where the word 'INFLAMMABLE' is now painted [etc.] on tank
> cars, ... portable tanks, or other containers, it may be continued
> until such tanks or other containers are repainted ... and at such
> times shall be replaced with the word 'FLAMMABLE' unless otherwise
> ordered by the Commission."
>
> (These regulations also control the color of signs for hazardous
> substances.)
>
> I suspect the terminology has been standardized internationally by
> convention.
>
> Joel
>
> At 3/28/2014 09:06 AM, David A. Daniel wrote:
> >When I was a kid in the 60's fuel trucks all had inflammable written on
> >them. I distinctly remember being behind one of these one day and my
> mother
> >having a bit of a rant saying this was confusing to the great unwashed who
> >thought that it meant not-flammable, and so there was a movement afoot
> >whereby we would all have to dumb down and start calling it flammable. She
> >thought this was just terrible that the educated would have to stoop to
> >appeasing the hoi polloi. But there you go. There was a gradual,
> purposeful
> >shift and now I don't know for sure but I suspect that you will not see
> >inflammable in public-warning use in the US, unless some truck has gone
> >unpainted since the 60's. (BTW, stuff that wouldn't burn at the time was
> >noninflammable)
> >DAD
> >
> >Poster:       Michael Quinion <michael.quinion at WORLDWIDEWORDS.ORG>
> >Organization: World Wide Words
> >Subject:      Flammable and inflammable
>
> >----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >---
> >
> >A questioner to World Wide Words has raised the issue of "flammable" and
> >"inflammable". As I'm from the wrong side of the Atlantic, it would be a
> >great help if list members would comment on the assertion in the draft
> >that "Americans now use 'flammable' widely in non-technical speech and
> >writing."
> >
> >Printed works and social media suggest this is so, but appearances may
> >deceive. The statistics suggest that US speakers actually prefer to use
> >"flammable" than "inflammable" (the former is much more common in current
> >newspapers, for example), unlike non-technical usage in Canada, Britain or
> >Australia.
> >
> >--
> >Michael Quinion
> >World Wide Words
> >Web: http://www.worldwidewords.org
> >
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> >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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