Words are very much a part of my life these days, as I prepare for the GRE general test. Phlegmatic, quail, mollify, extirpaticatepuhdisnurfindurf... ?!?!?

The loveliest words, though, that I´ve come across in days I found on the Nature homepage: perovskite, magnesiowüstite, ringwoodite. Nearly all mineral names end with -ite, yet no mineral is called 'trite'... because noone is!

This brings back to me a fond memory of flat-sharing with my friend Erna during university. Both of us were quite occupied with being the curious science student and we´d (especially Erna, though, since she was doing all the chemistry) read the description of contents on absolutely everything bought to the home. This involved nail enamel-glasses, of course, and on my Star Gazer silver nailpolish we read that clintonite was one of the ingredients. I always thought Clinton was kinda cute, so I found it very appropriate that he should bear the name of a mica (glimmer!!) mineral ;)