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Inflammable?
2

Inflammable?

Inflammable?

(OP)
Maybe this has been covered before, but...

I was at a hospital yesterday, and there was a sticker on a piece of electronic equipment that said, "Not to be used in the presence of INFLAMMABLE anesthetic gasses."

Shouldn't that be flammable?

DaveAtkins

RE: Inflammable?

If you check a dictionary, flammable and inflammable mean exactly the same thing - capable of being set on fire.  Nonflammable means the opposite.

Phil

RE: Inflammable?

See also that great film: "The three Amigos".  The INfamous El Guappo.

RE: Inflammable?

Drat, SomptingGuy  got in first. INflammable, think of INfamous.

RE: Inflammable?

So what's inflamable have to do with infamous?  I don't see the connection.

RE: Inflammable?


I think this is similar to the relation between inhabitable and habitable.

From my dictionary: the prefix in- is an intensive in inflammable, and not an expression of negation.
Because of the widespread use of the prefix in- with a negative meaning (invisible, incapable), inflammable is open to be interpreted as if it were negative.

This the reason why flammable is the preferred term in technical writing, and in contexts where people are being warned, as it should be in the example brought by DaveAtkins.

In figurative usage, only inflammable is used: an inflammable temper.

RE: Inflammable?

I thought flammable meant something that was capable of being set on fire like paper, wood, etc. but inflammable meant a substance capable of igniting from a spark like petrol or acetone.

RE: Inflammable?

Why not just use nonuninflammable so noboady will become confused?

RE: Inflammable?

pauljohn, the first category you mentioned is called combustible - this is indeed a different category than inflammable

RE: Inflammable?

I just checked my stock of chemicals, acetone, laquer thinner resin, etc. - not one 'inflammable' on the labels, they were all 'flammable' except for the mineral spirits which was merely combustible.

I seem to remember back home in Britain (I live in U.S. now) that labels on curtains etc. warned 'product is flammable' and petrol, alcohol, etc. was 'inflammable'. Could it be just you bloody Yanks messing with the Queens English again!

RE: Inflammable?

==> Could it be just you bloody Yanks messing with the Queens English again!
No, I don't think so.  Latin was around long before the USA.

The word flammable comes from Latin 'flammare' meaning 'set set on fire'.
The word inflammable also comes from Latin, "inflammare" meaning 'to set on fire with passion'.

Since both words come from Latin, I don't think you can, as much as you may like, blame the Yanks. smile

Good Luck
--------------
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

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