Can You Play a Coelute While You Avoid Coelution? The loose connections between spelling and pronunciation in English can lead to funny ambiguities in meaning. My eyes unfocused one day while I was trudging through the chromatography literature, and the word "coelute" fuzzed across the boundary in my mind between chromatography and fossil fish; it suddenly hit me that "coelute" looked like "coelacanth", at least the first four letters were identical. Now I already knew the correct pronunciation for the name of that ancient fish (do you?): in spite of their similar appearance, "coelacanth" was not pronounced anything like "melute". Instantly I mused: hut what if the "eoe" in coelute were pronounced "sea" Like the "coe2'in coelacanth? The answer tickled my punny hone, and I had to open my Random House Unabridged Dictionary to the entries starting with "coel-" to find out what a "melute" might be. This is what I found in the dictionary, and what I couldn't find there I borrowed from the spoken language of chromatography. Coelaeanth (se'lakanth') (n) a Crossopterygian fish. Coelenteron (@ len'ta r o d ) (n) body cavity of a coelenterate. Cneliae la& ak') ladil , .~ ,. celiac. Coelorn (sk'larn) (n,body cavity of higher metazoans. Coelomate ( + x n i t ' ) (adj) having a corlom. Coclartat (se'lau~ar')(n)an instrument used in asrronorny. ~~
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The next word in the series muld he: Coelute(sE%~t)(n) 1.ancient stringed instrument strung with fine strands of coeweed (Optimus chromatographicus). (v.itr) 2. to wrest property forcibly from someone traveling on the high coes; see "to pirate". And there could be derivatives: Coeluter (s;lKt ar) (n) 1.coelutist; ancient coefaring minstrel known for pantomime, hence the expression of audience approval: "his mohile_faceis a gas". 2. pirate; a female coeluter is a "lady looter". Caeluting srecies (se'lmt ng) (n) Martins and Syngians (tribes of coeluters) who were based on deserted islands. Caelution (se lmt' shan) (n) 1. the process of forcibly separating a coegoing merchant from his treasure, his wife, or his life, possibly in that order, usually performed by a coeluter (see "piracy"). 2. the result of dissolving solids in coewater. Coelevel (se'lev'al) (n) 1. a reclining position assumed while listening to an accomplished coeluter. 2. all that is left after coelution on the high coes by a coeluting species. 3. a stationary phase of the coe. Besides the wards themselves there are five references in the definitions to chromatography. Can you find them? T o e " what a shorted neural net can cause! Dan Vassllaros 5582 Kart Drive
Allentown. PA 18104
996
Journal
of Chemical Education
