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Grammatical question regarding Iridite?

April 12, 2010

What is the correct past tense of Iridite?

My machinist inquired about this and I do not know which is correct. Since a large part of my job is writing repair instructions, I feel I should know this and am quite embarrassed that I do not.

Is it Iridited? Iridite? or iridote?

Other similar English words that end in -ite and their past tense verb are:

bite (bit)
fight (fought)
spite (spited)
Iridite (?)

Thanks in advance.

Debra Whittaker
Plate Shop Engineer - Oxford, Alabama, USA

April 13, 2010

Hi, Debra. Iridite is a noun, a trade name actually. Inventing a proper and consistent past tense of a proper name is problematic. I think the correct past tense is "chromate conversion coated" :-)

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

April 18, 2010

The grammatically correct phrase would be "chemical filmed" or "chromated" as like Ted has indicated, Iridite(R) and Alodine(R) are registered trade names and specific to a single manufacturer (Macdermid or Henkel). The generic process which both of these products relate is chromate conversion coating or chemical filming.

Milt Stevenson, Jr.
Syracuse, New York

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