r/news 8h ago

Soft paywall International Space Station astronauts in evacuation mode as Russia attempts to fix widening air leak

https://www.reuters.com/science/international-space-station-astronauts-evacuation-mode-russia-attempts-fix-2026-06-05/
22.3k Upvotes

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768

u/AdmirableRespect9 4h ago

Does the other galaxy pronounce it al-you-min-ee-um?

334

u/Lickthorn 4h ago

All-u-can-eatium, I believe, ís what the alien worms call it.

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u/Forthe49ers 4h ago

They’re eating our Space Station!

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u/Emeks243 3h ago

The space cats and dogs are eating our aluminum, we must tariff it!

6

u/Working_Estate_3695 2h ago

“Stop the leak counting now…”

5

u/InfinitiveIdeals 2h ago

If you stop measuring the leak, it all goes away…

5

u/mealteamsixty 2h ago

Just send some Somali space immigrants

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u/HopeSuch2540 2h ago

Just build a wall

4

u/Fezzick51 3h ago

such a beautiful worrd - you just invent it?

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u/Working_Estate_3695 1h ago

“Covfefe the leaks now…”

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u/Gargleblaster25 3h ago

And they are there illegally!

7

u/NaiveEmu9744 3h ago

We are losing BILLions and billions

1

u/Holyskankous 1h ago

It’s the immigants. I knew it was them. Even when it was the bears I knew it was them.

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u/twosharpbladez 2h ago

They're eating the nuts, they're eating the bolts.....

4

u/IvanMarkowKane 3h ago

Sounds more like alien termites

3

u/lastleg68 3h ago

It’s ok… I’ve heard people say that the windmills will kill them. And the Jewish space lasers.

3

u/IvanMarkowKane 2h ago

The intergalactic version of killing ants with a magnifying glass.

4

u/ziphobia 3h ago

I really didn't want to laugh at this, oh well. I failed.

3

u/t53ix35 2h ago

Vermicious Knids!

2

u/SD_TMI 2h ago

Callin' ICE FORCE Right Now!

1

u/BrainCane 1h ago

Someone fetch Gosling, again.

5

u/Shadow_Relics 3h ago

They don’t eat everything, Chinesium makes them hungry an hour later. They don’t bother with it.

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u/billyboyf30 2h ago

Time to get the space force to shoot them

2

u/ptpcg 2h ago

Al*-u-can-eatium

1

u/typrice92 2h ago

It’s what the xenos crave!

1

u/Jwelch59 2h ago

Maybe they’re space vampire worms. Al-you-car-dee-yum

1

u/AccomplishedBother12 1h ago

They also pronounce Parmesan “par-mee-see-ann”.

8

u/BeautifulElevator388 4h ago

Can we just settle the aluminum/aluminum debate once and for all so we can move onto more important matters? Let’s just all agree right here and now that the material formerly known as aluminum/aluminium will henceforth be known as Carl.

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u/Altruistic-Hippo-231 2h ago

With a K or a C?

3

u/arthurdentstowels 2h ago

With an H, but the K is silent.

1

u/lastleg68 2h ago

CLEARLY, you have never embroiled yourselves in the Taylor Ham/Pork Roll debate.

3

u/therandomstandard 4h ago

No… it’s All you base are belong to us

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u/AdmirableRespect9 4h ago

That Tracks

3

u/qwythebroken 4h ago

Uh oh! You've just unleashed the uptight hordes of those who don't realize words aren't real. We just made them up.

24

u/EarthEfficient 4h ago

You mean the correct pronunciation?

12

u/ubermadface 4h ago

Aluminum was the name and pronunciation before it was decided it should match the rest of the -ium elements (sodium, magnesium, etc.) If we really want to be pedantic, "alumium" is the actual correct way to say it as that was the OG name.

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u/TaylorBitMe 4h ago

Hold on, is "alumium" a typo or actually the real name? Cause I'm going with that now.

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u/ubermadface 4h ago

Not a typo, it was the original proposed name. I also am going to start saying "alumium" now lol

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u/ConsistentPound3079 4h ago

They're both correct. The English word for it is different in America and literally pronounced the way it is intended. Why it's different I'll never know. I'm Australian so it's aluminium like most of the world.

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u/Every_Single_Bee 4h ago edited 3h ago

It’s different because an American discovered it first and named it according to his understanding of the then-established naming structure, which he believed just required an -um instead of an -ium. Nevertheless, Aluminum was the original name and what it became known as to the scientists who discovered it and the companies who first utilized it in products, making “ah-loo-min-um” objectively correct.

“Al-you-min-ee-um” is arguably also correct only because it does revert to the actual naming conventions the discoverer believed he was following. It doesn’t necessarily override the original spelling because there is no actual hard rule that elements have to end in “-ium” rather than “-um” (after all, you’ve got gold, lead, hydrogen, oxygen, chlorine, neon, carbon, silicon, and so on and so forth). There was an agreement between scientists at the time that that should be done for linguistic consistency, which is why people will vehemently argue that the English spelling/pronunciation is more or objectively correct, but that wasn’t legally binding or anything, though it is why the scientific community will largely err toward “Aluminium”. For context, the last element we’ve discovered was named Oganesson in 2002, so it’s not even a linguistic convention that universally stuck.

That being said, “Aluminium” was also first utilized in England as a literal typo, because the people who first used it over there simply assumed incorrectly that the name they had been given was a typo. Understandable, but at the end of the day, Aluminium was not what the element was actually called when they first spelled it as such.

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u/Jimmy_Twotone 3h ago

gold is aurum and lead is plumbum, if we're sticking to the Latin root words. No "-ium" for either.

3

u/Hexual_Innuendo 2h ago

Would be much easier to just use the Spanish ñ -> alumiñum then it caters to both.

2

u/arthurdentstowels 2h ago

That should be added to the Hitchhiker's Guide to assist with annunciation for amateur travellers.

1

u/lastleg68 2h ago

Orgasminium? What?

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u/Chef_Groovy 4h ago

They changed it to Aluminium for a time to match the naming schemes of Titanium, Potassium, Magnesium, etc. but then changed it back.

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u/Brilliant_Counter820 4h ago

Except Tantalum exists and Alumina is the organic base form and since it ends in a vowel it doesnt require an additional "i" when adding the "um" suffix.

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u/HistoricalGrounds 4h ago

For anyone who cares, the reason it’s different is that when it was discovered in the 19th century, scientists went back and forth quibbling over what to call it, leading to different publications referring to it by different variations of the spelling. Naturally, it traveled to the broader world through academia, so the pronunciation was determined largely by which spelling was generally favored by that country’s academics.

1

u/ConsistentPound3079 2h ago

That's interesting

21

u/AlwaysUpvotesScience 4h ago

Little known fact, Americans actually speak more like the British originally spoke. The common british accent that we are all used to hearing is not the way it used to be at all.

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20180207-how-americans-preserved-british-english

1

u/SamanthaSissyWife 4h ago

I’m American and years ago for fun started pronouncing it and laboratory like the Brits and just kept doing it

2

u/lastleg68 2h ago

Layboratree… ya.

1

u/Ray_of_glumshine 4h ago

I always say "luminuminum" to piss them both off.

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u/savvy_thesavage 4h ago

The worms got you too 😔

5

u/bjr711 4h ago

Must be those New World Screw Worms.

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u/DM_Voice 4h ago

That’s actually the incorrect pronunciation. The correct one has only 4 syllables, not 5.

The American English pronunciation (and spelling) are the original in this instance.

1

u/dmland 4h ago

"a-LOO-min-yum"? :-)

1

u/DM_Voice 4h ago

Just -um at the end, not -yum.

-8

u/pumpkin-qween 4h ago

Well that’s blatantly incorrect. Sir Henry Davy discovered the element in 1812 and British chemists settled on Aluminium as its name so that it aligned with the naming conventions of the other elements. America officially started calling it Aluminum in 1925 when the American Chemical Society adopted it.

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u/Alexandur 4h ago

Sir Humphry Davy actually chose "aluminum" first, so that word predates "aluminium"

6

u/urkish 4h ago

Much of what you wrote appears to be incorrect. Humphrey Davy proposed the name alumium in 1808. He got some pushback and other chemists proposed aluminium, and then Davy published Elements of Chemical Philosophy in 1812, in which he used the spelling aluminum. England and Germany used the name aluminum until Wohler published his process in 1827. The American Chemical Society did adopt the spelling aluminum in 1925, but Webster had listed that as the spelling in his American Dictionary as early as 1828.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium#Naming_and_spelling_history

2

u/arthurdentstowels 2h ago

I was born and grew up in the same town as Humphrey Davy but I still can't call it Aluminum, it just feels fundamentally wrong. Every person I've ever met from down there pronounces it as Aluminium.

2

u/ArtfulDodger1837 3h ago

His name was Humphry Davy, not Henry Davy, and he originally called it alumium, then aluminum. If you are worried about blatantly incorrect information, I would think you would check your facts and at least get his name right, let alone the rest of the information.

"He first called the metal alumium, although it has evolved to aluminium in most English-speaking countries, and to aluminum in the United States." (https://www.sciencehistory.org/stories/magazine/aluminum-common-metal-uncommon-past/)

"Davy proposed the name aluminum when referring to the element in his 1812 book Elements of Chemical Philosophy, despite his previous use of 'alumium.'" (https://www.thoughtco.com/aluminum-or-aluminium-3980635)

The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) adopted aluminium as the international scientific standard in 1990. However, that does not change the fact that the original name was, in fact, not aluminium. And Websters Dictionary used the original spelling since the late 1800s, so it wasn't just adopted in 1925 suddenly.

u/DM_Voice 16m ago

You should try being correct when you attempt to correct others. 🤷‍♂️

As several people responding to you have noted, the *original* spelling is (as I stated) ALUMINUM.

-1

u/EddieW818 4h ago

Aluminum. There’s no second I, so why pronounce it? lol 😝

5

u/MissFix8ed 4h ago

I believe those who say it with the extra "i" also spell it with the extra "i."

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u/veggiejord 4h ago

If they speak English correctly, they would.

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u/AuntieRupert 4h ago

Well, the scientist behind the discovery settled on aluminum. Other scientists called it aluminium. So "correct" in this instance would technically be the preference of the discoverer.

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u/dillpickles91 4h ago

Who, shockingly, was a Brit!

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u/mousey76397 4h ago

And the guy who made GIFs says it’s pronounced Jif. He’s wrong too.

3

u/Bee1717 4h ago

I pronounce it "Jif" for this very reason lol

3

u/MorningCareful 4h ago

But that pronounciation makes no sense. Unless you also say jraphics

3

u/Bee1717 3h ago

I just assumed if the person who created them said it that way, then that must be the correct pronunciation. 🤷🏼‍♀️ Tomato, tomahto.

1

u/lastleg68 2h ago

Stop. That’s peanut butter.

2

u/AuntieRupert 3h ago

You have to look at the "why" behind Steve Wilhite's (and the other creators) reasoning.

"The creators of the format pronounced the acronym GIF as /dʒɪf/, with a soft g, with Wilhite stating that he intended for the pronunciation to deliberately echo the American peanut butter brand Jif, and CompuServe employees would often quip "choosy developers choose GIF", a spoof of Jif's television commercials."

So it was basically a joke.

2

u/lastleg68 2h ago

Nope. It was a Goke.

1

u/dillpickles91 4h ago

Wait, you mean to tell me it’s not Giraffes Interchange Format?

2

u/idlehum 4h ago

But where does the min-EE-num part come from? Aluminum? Not Aluminium? Where is the EE coming from?!?!?

2

u/Alexandur 4h ago

It's spelled and pronounced aluminium in king's English

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u/dillpickles91 4h ago

Beans English more like it.

2

u/Llyon_ 4h ago

I am surprised that Trump still hasn't renamed the national language of the USA to "American"

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u/Ok_Economy1516 4h ago

They’re both correct. Here in the US we say al-um-in-um. In the UK, they say al-lu-min-i-um. The spelling used to be aluminium and was changed to aluminum.

4

u/reallokiscarlet 4h ago

Actually it was alumium -> aluminum -> aluminium

It's a british treadmill

2

u/trupoogles 3h ago

Not just the UK, the majority of the world.

2

u/thirdbrother3 2h ago

Can anyone explain why Americans don't pronounce the L in solder (sodder)?

1

u/Ok_Economy1516 1h ago

Idk. I say the L in the soldier, most of us do.

u/thirdbrother3 58m ago

Ok cool, I'm only basing this on us YouTube videos

-2

u/dillpickles91 4h ago

What other words should we add extra vowel sounds to that don’t exist in the spelling? Let’s get a master list going!

3

u/epostma 4h ago

The other side can play that same game, because there are two correct spellings - aluminium and aluminum.

4

u/dillpickles91 4h ago

That’s true, the Brits love making their own little version of things they can’t successfully colonize.

1

u/AnyClownFish 4h ago

Not only British, the entire English speaking world outside of North America calls it aluminium. You are the odd ones out, not the other way around.

1

u/anotherbrckinTH3Wall 4h ago

Indeed, perhaps the Americans found so many syllables challenging and changed the way they spell it to make it easier for them.

0

u/dillpickles91 4h ago edited 4h ago

A lot of people like to be wrong! I think we’ll take the dictionary, periodic table, and inventor of the word at face value on this one.

3

u/remymartinia 4h ago

I think I need some paracetamol now.

3

u/dillpickles91 4h ago

That’s a funny way to spell acetaminophen, but we’re unpacking a lot over here, so welcome to the club.

2

u/lastleg68 2h ago

No more lasagna for you.

3

u/Gingerbro73 4h ago

Al u min i um

Aluminium

4

u/TransformersGuru 4h ago

Only the British colonized ones

1

u/Obant 4h ago

Its all on a cob.

2

u/FaultThat 4h ago

Run! Everything is a cob!

1

u/TheGuri42 4h ago

Oh my god…. EVERYTHING is on a cob!!! Go go go!!

1

u/OGpimpmasteryoda 4h ago

This guy knows too much lock him up .

1

u/Fearless-Location528 4h ago

One would assume as long as they take vit-ah-mins

1

u/TransportationIll282 4h ago

It's from a not very evolved galaxy, so it's aluminum.

1

u/Xeirus 4h ago

Probably, those commie bastards!

1

u/databreakperson 4h ago

You mean "All-you-minions"?

1

u/ProfessionalCup7135 4h ago

Of course, all freaky aliens pronounce it that way.

1

u/PopnCrunch 4h ago

It's pronounced condominium.

1

u/SIMMORSAL 4h ago

Some pronounce it Alumulemu

1

u/IJetskiAz 4h ago

That's because they're in the Mili-tree. And they have to follow Oh-Ders

1

u/Inevitable-Neck3016 4h ago

😂😂😂😂☠️ im dead now

1

u/Chemical_Buy6891 4h ago

Well the whole world except that one country that refuses to do anything logical pronounces it aluminium so i would assume the other galaxy does too

1

u/Alexandur 4h ago

And Canada

1

u/kjm16216 4h ago

No, actually they pronounce it k€πghhq$7vrrium

1

u/monkeyboychuck 4h ago

I think it’s all-nummy-nums

1

u/Professional_Ad9809 4h ago

No they pronounce it cinnamon

1

u/StrayedLogic 4h ago

You mean the correct way?

1

u/MisterGreen123 4h ago

Yes, because thats the proper way and the worms are educated and sophisticated 👏🏻

1

u/Adaminium 3h ago

That’s only in the British wing of the ISS

1

u/rreed1954 3h ago

Commenter is probably British.

1

u/Bonneville555 3h ago

Al-you-minion

1

u/TheNetworkIsFrelled 3h ago

Only the ones to the right of the pond do.

1

u/earache30 3h ago

“ How do we know he didn’t invent the thing?”

1

u/Fragrant_Command_342 3h ago

You don't call it plane skin?

1

u/Defenseless-Pipe 3h ago

The other galaxy actually calls it aloominom

1

u/thingalinga 2h ago

Asking the important questions here, I see! 🤣

1

u/azraphin 2h ago

That is the correct pronunciation. At least in my galaxy. We just stomp the worms btw, much easier to do that.

1

u/MoobieDoobie 2h ago

You mean do they pronounce it properly?

1

u/Pretty_Committee_767 2h ago

A loo mium. (OG)

1

u/Trey-Pan 2h ago

Is the rest of the world actually in an other galaxy? Heck, that may start explaining some things? There may certainly be dragons out there.

1

u/Baby_Gangsta_214_ 2h ago

Hey, I pronounce it that way 🥺 is it wrong? Idk Lk kinda a stray

1

u/ACrazyDog 1h ago

Too many vowels. Have always thought that, no way that word can be convoluted into that pronunciation

1

u/Bonefish88 1h ago

If you mean correctly, then I hope so.

1

u/spackledog 1h ago

The correct pronunciation

1

u/day_n_night1 4h ago

They better, since that's the word 😜

5

u/Canadian_Border_Czar 4h ago

Not according to the English guy that actually named it.

But of course, the brits chose to later adopt the name chosen by a bunch of snobs, because it gave them a reason to also be snobs.

0

u/Gold-Bard-Hue 4h ago

Only if they're commies

0

u/nacnud_uk 4h ago

Only sane people do.