Chemists? They be weird.....

...and I say this as a card-carrier myself. The following story will seem like utter nothing to most of the world, but it made me a bit miffed! Only confirms the title, I suppose, eh?

Anyhow, looking up a nice procedure in a paper (making the TMS-enolate of pyruvate, if you must know) and they go and 'dilute with Skelly F'. Hmmmm, never heard of that before, thinks Jon-ster, but it could be some odd little reagent that gets used that I've not come across before, and chemistry is renowned for all it's little acronyms and odditites. So I ask around the lab. Nope, no-one's heard of it before either.....recourse is then made to the internet (google is lovely, what would we do without it? Be warned of people introducing charge by stealth people, freedom of information!) and it turns out that this so-called Skelly F is nothing but bog-standard petroleum ether, that everyone uses everyday and calls 'petroleum ether' or, daringly, 'petrol'. Why the HELL did they bother giving it an odd name?! Grrrrr.........

*steps down*

I feel somewhat better for that! Get to install my broadband connection this evening, that's going to be even more fun. Not. I'll spend hours fiddling with cables, no doubt....