I think a lot of what you're describing is a regional thing, especially the pronunciation. However, you are incorrect on the origins of aluminium:-


"Etymology/nomenclature history
The earliest citation given in the Oxford English Dictionary for any word used as a name for this element is alumium, which Humphry Davy employed in 1808 for the metal he was trying to isolate electrolytically from the mineral alumina. The citation is from his journal Philosophical Transactions: "Had I been so fortunate as..to have procured the metallic substances I was in search of, I should have proposed for them the names of silicium, alumium, zirconium, and glucium." [11]

By 1812, Davy had settled on aluminum, which, as other sources note, matches its Latin root. He wrote in the journal Chemical Philosophy: "As yet Aluminum has not been obtained in a perfectly free state."[12] But the same year, an anonymous contributor to the Quarterly Review, a British political-literary journal, objected to aluminum and proposed the name aluminium, "for so we shall take the liberty of writing the word, in preference to aluminum, which has a less classical sound." [13]

The -ium suffix had the advantage of conforming to the precedent set in other newly discovered elements of the period: potassium, sodium, magnesium, calcium, and strontium (all of which Davy had isolated himself). Nevertheless, -um spellings for elements were not unknown at the time, as for example platinum, known to Europeans since the 16th century, molybdenum, discovered in 1778, and tantalum, discovered in 1802.

Americans adopted -ium for most of the 19th century, with aluminium appearing in Webster's Dictionary of 1828. In 1892, however, Charles Martin Hall used the -um spelling in an advertising handbill for his new electrolytic method of producing the metal, despite his constant use of the -ium spelling in all the patents he filed between 1886 and 1903. Hall's domination of production of the metal ensured that the spelling aluminum became the standard in North America; the Webster Unabridged Dictionary of 1913, though, continued to use the -ium version.

In 1926, the American Chemical Society officially decided to use aluminum in its publications; American dictionaries typically label the spelling aluminium as a British variant"
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium#S...


Some other things I agree with though, especially the food wastage. I think you'll have to compromise on the hygiene thing though, washing hands and not 'shifting gears' is one thing but putting a carrier bag on a work surface and separate rooms after you've already been exposed to his coughs and sneezes is a bit too much.

The leather issue was more of a personal one I think, but we live in a disposable society and a lot of these things are treated as a throw away items, and after 12 years of use when it's looking a bit tired we replace with new.

Not really sure about how to treat the family issues, but their attitude seems typically northern (sorry to any northerners ) maybe even Victorian. You could try playing them at their own game and tell them that you're the woman of the house now and you'll run it as you want to

Carpets? Surely that's something you can understand, think how cold it would be without them during the winter months


Hope you feel more at home soon Come and have a good rant anytime, it's good to get these things out in the open