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from martin contains these words:
On 23 Aug 2005 12:55:39 GMT, (Nick Maclaren) wrote:


Actually, I use the terms 'paraffin' and 'kerosene' as synonyms.
Both are abbreviations (for p. oil and k. oil) and the use of
paraffin in that sense predates the use of kerosene (by only a
few years, true).

I've got a Taylor Paraffin boat stove. The embossed brass plate on it
claims it is a "parrafin" stove. The original manufacturer denied it
was a typo.

Then the original manufacturer was wrong. Paraffin is a contraction of
'parum affinis' (little affinity) - little affinity, IIRC, with oil, and
applied originally just to the wax, but when other fractions of the wax
were made/discovered, this was applied to the whole chemical group.

--
Rusty
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