Re: chemical formulas was rosacea

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In a message dated 11/4/03 7:18:12 PM Eastern Standard Time,

karenr@... writes:

> When I type HCl especially to someone who may not remember their chemistry,

>

> I'm sure it looks to them like the lower case l is a capital I, in which

> case I've confused them and nothing is accomplished. So I type HCL just for

> clarity's sake, and it usually works to get the point across. I'm more of a

> pragmatist.

I don't think it matters very much I was commenting simply because the

distinction came up.

But I don't really see your point at all. If someone doesn't know enough to

know that Cl is the abbreviation for chlorine, I don't see how they could

possibly now that HCL or HCl stood for " hydrochloric acid, " in which case the

only

pragmatic thing to do would be to write out " hydrochloric acid. "

Chris