I've been calling it 'fool's gold' for years, but a kid at the rock show last weekend corrected me and I feel dumb lol

I volunteer at our town's annual gem and mineral show, and I was showing a bunch of pyrite samples to a group. I kept saying 'and this shiny one is called fool's gold.' This 10-year-old kid just looks at me and goes, 'My book says it's iron sulfide.' He was totally right, I was just using the nickname like it was the real thing. It's pyrite or iron sulfide, not fool's gold. That's just what people call it when they don't know better. Kinda ironic, huh? Has anyone else had a basic geology term they realized they've been saying wrong forever?

4 comments

4 Comments

hall.jenny2mo ago

My friend’s geology professor called it “schist” wrong for an entire semester.

richard_young802mo ago

That's brutal, but honestly not even the worst I've heard. Had a bio teacher in high school who kept saying "melee-osis" instead of meiosis. Whole class just gave up correcting him after week two.

the_faith2mo ago

Wait, he kept saying "melee-osis" like a video game fight? How did he even get through the textbook readings out loud without catching it?

emery1013d ago

Oh man, I've been there. Had a history teacher in college who pronounced "medieval" as "meed-ee-evil" for three months straight. We all just blinked at each other until someone finally raised a hand after a test and said "hey, just checking, but is that how you say it?" Turns out he'd been mispronouncing it since grad school and nobody ever told him. I always figure you gotta pick your battles with stuff like this. Some things are worth a gentle correction, others you just let slide and make a mental note for your own sanity.