FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[HLV]

The University of Huelva (Spain) has inaugurated a new Virtual Museum of Mineralogy with a selection of their minerals.

https://www.uhu.es/museovirtualdemineralogia
(link normalized by FMF)

[Matt_Zukowski]

This is great. Although of course it is best to see things in person, going to a museum that is far away is a luxury. I wish more museums would consider it a part of their mission to put pictures and descriptions on the internet for all to experience, if only virtually.

[John S. White]

I agree with Matt, Another advantage seen here is that it provides viewers an opportunity to point out some mistakes or omissions in the labels. I haven't time to look at the complete set of images, but I did see a couple of things that could be corrected. For example, the cuprite from Ray, Arizona has (EEUU) after it. I have no idea what (EEUU) means but it should be (USA). And Ray is a mine name, so it should be Ray mine. The strontianite is from the state of Pennsylvania, which is not included in the label. I am sure ther are others. Nonetheless, this is a very worthwhile effort and you have come up with a great idea. Thank you.

[Peter]

EEUU should be EU, Estados Unidos, United States in Spanish I guess

[James Catmur]

EEUU means US in Spanish. When you create an abbreviation of a plural noun in Spanish you double up the letters to indicate that it is plural. Let me explain:

(E)stados (U)nidos de America. If you just wrote EU in Spanish it would mean United State not United States, so you write EEUU to indicate that it is an abbreviation of a plural noun. Clever isn't it. So it is correct John.

James

[Peter]

Thanks James I never learned any abbreviations in Spanish! See you in August

[John S. White]

Thanks James. I suspected something like that but elsewhere in the listings they used USA, so I was unsure.

[Antonio Alcaide]

Thanks, John, for the information you provide. In case the new member who posted first does not read it, we send your corrections to the Museum staff. I know the Spanish FMF member who posted the announcement there.

Don't worry for the EEUU/USA mistake. My students know about that topic quite less than James does. I suspect they write "USA" in Spanish (or even EU in abbreviations what is worse!!). The tendency is to forget this useful and old Spanish grammar rule.

Regards

[James Catmur]

John

I have just been on the site and seen, like you, that they have been inconsistent in the names of the USA - you are right that they should either use USA or EEUU consistently.

James

[Peter]

Very cute and practical rule! Guess my spenish reacher 32 years ago did not manage to squeeze that one in during a 2 hrs/week course for some 9 months

[al mar]

Other mistake is a pink "dravite" from California...I suppose that is an elbaite.

[HLV]

Thank you for all your comments. I am going to send the mistakes to the coordinator of the web. If you see other ones, please let us know to be fix.

Regards

[HLV]

The coordinator of the Virtual Museum of Mineralogy has informed me that the mistakes reported here and in the Spanish forum have been fixed. Regarding the Dravite, there are reasonable doubts so it is going to be analyzed. Regards

Spanish Forum:
https://www.foro-minerales.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6139