Unobtanium was what they made that fucking stupid magma-sub out of in The Core as well, I think.
It's particularly stupid naming because Unobtanium is something that physicists (mostly, I think) sometimes actually use as a term for something they'd like but can't get hold of (antimatter, for example), so using it as a name for something you can actually MINE OUT OF THE GROUND is about as wrong as you can get.
(wellgroomedwookiee is a filthy-minded hobgoblin, Mon 22 Feb 2010, 11:32, 1 reply, 16 years ago)

Yeah, but
"Drillingitoutofthegroundisabitofapainium" doesn't roll off the tongue quite as well...
(LongJohnBaldry, Mon 22 Feb 2010, 11:34, Reply)

But with Science! input
you could have a name that is just shit, rather than a name that is shit and WRONG. Or, possibly, you might even end up with a name that's quite good.
(wellgroomedwookiee is a filthy-minded hobgoblin, Mon 22 Feb 2010, 11:39, Reply)

Frank Herbert had the right idea,
Give it a colloquial name like "the spice" and then it doesn't require a name which offends scientists, is shit and is wrong.

(Though of course, casting Sting with ginger hair and overly revealing costumes has kind of ruined that film for me, thank you very much David Lynch...)
(LongJohnBaldry, Mon 22 Feb 2010, 11:43, Reply)