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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

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
April 18, 2010

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