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As usual, Wikipedia has it right: "The antifreeze capabilities of ethylene glycol have made it an important component of vitrification (anticrystallization) mixtures .."

Perhaps we should call it anticrystallization?

George

On 11/15/2012 09:15 PM, James Stroud wrote:
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On Nov 15, 2012, at 10:59 AM, Tim Gruene wrote:
I have heard this discussion before and reminds me of people claiming
strawberries were nuts - which botanically may be correct, but would
still not make me complain about strawberries in a fruit cake I
ordered at a restaurant.

My Pengiun English Dictionary states (amongst other explanations)
freeze: "to make extremely cold",

Tim's comment strikes at the heart of the problem.

I think the scientific community should decide a few points.

1. What is the approved language and dialect for science?
2. Within this dialect, what should be the authoritative dictionary?
3. Will we allow use of definitions that are not the primary definition (second, third, fourth).
4. Will we allow the use of homonyms?
5. If not, which homonyms should prevail?

These are all very important questions if we completely disregard context in writing.

James



-- 
Prof. George M. Sheldrick FRS
Dept. Structural Chemistry, 
University of Goettingen,
Tammannstr. 4,
D37077 Goettingen, Germany
Tel. +49-551-39-3021 or -3068
Fax. +49-551-39-22582