[Ads-l] dihydrogen monoxide (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Mark Mandel]

Well, wasn't I staggered when I saw this just now! Many of you probably
remember the great dihydrogen monoxide hoax,* which has popped up in
various forms since at least 1983. In 1997, when Nathan Zohner's
ninth-grade science project "How Gullible Are We?" won him first prize in
the Greater Idaho Falls Science Fair, media attention peaked and many
people's interest was piqued, including mine. So I wrote a filk** song on
the subject, to the tune of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic";*** and now I
find it especially interesting that the term had some usage 140 years ago.

* See, for example,
• http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1791960
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dihydrogen_monoxide_hoax
• http://www.snopes.com/science/dhmo.asp

** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filk_music

*** https://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/susan/sf/filk/dhmo.htm

Mark A. Mandel
"The Filker with No Nickname"

On Mar 7, 2016 1:20 PM, "Mullins, Bill CIV (US)" <
william.d.mullins18.civ at mail.mil> wrote:
>
> CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED
>
> _The Cincinnati Lancet and Clinic_ Dec 14 1878 p 463 col 2
> "The nomenclature is a judicious compromise between that pedantic extreme
t=
> hat calls water dihydrogen monoxide and a stupid reverence for the bygone
w=
> hich would still use hartshorn for ammonia or hyperoxymuriates for
chlorate=
> s."
> CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org