20 Feb
2002
20 Feb
'02
5:01 a.m.
Rumor has it that Tony Duell may have mentioned these words:
In spite of not being "official convention" (and sometimes not even
CORRECT), when telling somebody to get something, it just might be useful
to them to know what it is called at the places that they buy it.
Unfortunately the 'local' names are just that. Local. I've never see
anything called 'rubbing alcohol' for sale in the UK. I have seen it
labelled isopropanol or propan-2-ol. Since this is an international list,
it would seem to make sense to use the official name and then to look it
up in a local chemical catalogue if necessary.
Although I agree with you totally, for many things there is *no*
international name. If you send anyone over to Wal-mart or K-mart for
isopropanol or propan-2-ol, they'll *never* find it. I've only ever seen
labeled is "rubbing alcohol" (which I'll admit is much too vague) or
"isopropyl alcohol" and the percentage (you can get 91% at Wal-mart, but
most places stock only the 70% AFAIK. (I'm looking at a bottle as I type)
Even under the ingredient listing (required by law in the US) it's
"isopropyl alcohol".
But it could be fun to go into Radio Shack and ask... ;-)
Over here, cars have "trunks" instead of "boots", "hoods"
instead of
"bonnets", and I've even heard (but is unconfirmed) and there are some
things that are un-translatable, if you don't know the lingo beforehand...
Even "aluminum" is different, but I don't remember how different...
That's why it's helpful to know what it's called in various regions of the
world, or maybe someone could set up a database??? (I have access to a
ColdFusion server & PostgreSQL... :-)
That's Allz I know...
Roger "Merch" Merchberger
--
Roger "Merch" Merchberger --- sysadmin, Iceberg Computers
Recycling is good, right??? Ok, so I'll recycle an old .sig.
If at first you don't succeed, nuclear warhead
disarmament should *not* be your first career choice.
Or you can
call it "Isopropyl alcohol" or just "rubbing alcohol"!
(But you want the 90+% stuff, NOT the 70%)
But I don't think either of those are official convention.