Gawker Commenters Restore My Faith in Humanity. And Science.

Sulfer? WTF!

A high school senior in Georgia might be kept from attending graduation over her yearbook quote. Gawker picked up the story and it ended up on the Facebook page of one of my friends. The linked news article quotes that Paris Gray as having the text with her yearbook picture as

When the going gets tough just remember to Barium, Carbon, Potassium, Thorium, Astatine, Arsenic, Sulfur, Uranium, Phosphorus.

Except that's not what it said. Instead, Ms. Gray wrote:

When the going gets tough just remember to Barium, Carbon, Potassium, Thorium, Astatine, Arsenic, Sulfer, Utranium, Phosphoros.

Which, as I type this, now have squiggly red lines underneath, reminding me that they're not spelled correctly. Isn't Phosphoros one of those countries in The Game of Thrones? I must get around to reading that. This leapt out at me!

Ms. Gray's mother passes this off as her daughter being a "nerd," but wouldn't a so-called nerd get the names of the elements right?

Happily, many of the comments on Gawker point this out as well. Thank you commenters. And congratulations on graduating high school, Ms. Gray. During the summer, maybe you could learn how to spell the names of the chemical elements.

[I'm tagging this post with #chemistry. I've been waiting to do that.]

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