Nicholas Bodley wrote:

>
> On Tue, 06 Dec 2005 18:57:34 -0500, Peter T. Daniels
> <grammatim@...> wrote:
>
> [...dihydrogen monoxide]
>
> > Using the erroneous di- form is the _opposite_ of pedantic!
>
> Oh, my! Amateur guess: Using a Greek prefix where Latin should be?
>
> Thanks, Peter! We need people like you.

No. Using an erroneous form is what is not pedantic; pedantry insists on
correct forms.

Di- is a perfectly legitimate formative in chemical names, but two
people asserted that it's incorrect in this instance.
--
Peter T. Daniels grammatim@...