Aluminium
was originally aluminum. It was changed to "Aluminium" to make it fit in with existing element nomenclature.

And the apparently excess "U"s in the English language is a product of its derivation and each words etymology, coupled with the invention of the printing press. As it'd be nigh-on impossible to create (economically) a book with every different spelling of a word used, printed text standardised around the spelling of the inventor of the printing press.
However it came about, it's still the accepted standard (or "correct") way of spelling English- the one the rest of the world will (or, rather SHOULD) be learning- and everything else is at best a dialect.

The problem with phonetic spelling is it varies from region to region- a "problem" to me could be a "prahblem" to a Yank. If I was to pronounce "Color" [coh-loh-r] and "Colour" [cul-luh-re] without knowing that they were supposed to be the same word, I'd pronounce them quite differently. Mainly because I'm a pedantic Englishman living in Scotland who's having to fight to keep his accent...

Anyway, that's my rant over. And I'm proud that I avoided tomayto/tomato, potayto/potato singing... lets call the whole thing off. Bugger.
( uberdeity Wondered why Owen Lars knew of the term "hell" on, Fri 2 May 2008, 14:38, Reply)