Right. So I'm looking all over the web for a very specific, rather rare gemstone. I won't even go into my difficulties in finding this particular gem. It's reasonably rare, hard to cut and somewhat fragile. My regular supplier of this stone is involved in the blackout on the east coast, so lords know when he'll get my message. Anyway, my rant is about spelling.

Riddle me this, Batman. How does a lapidary sell a misspelled stone? Answer -They don't! At least not to me! I understand that some countries spell certain cuts differently. Cabochon and Cabachon both mean flat on the bottom, domed on the top. What the hell is a cabation? It makes me think of a tool cab drivers use when their customers won't pay their fare or something. There is a lovely blue/violet stone out there named Iolite. It was very popular about 6 years ago. It's also called the water sapphire because you can dig it out of riverbeds rather than risk death in a mine tunnel. How can any self respecting business person put the tag "Ilote" next to this lovely gem? This was an american gem cutter! It just goes to show you don't have to spell in order to cut stones. (sigh)

There are enough oddly named gems out there already without these fools making up their own names for them. At thaigem.com I came across mangnovesuvianite (and I probably misspelled it here). It's a real gem. So is fluorapatite. See? The names are strange enough as they stand.