We were taught stalaCtite (ceiling) and stalaGmite (ground).
Stalagtites hang on tite. Stalagmites crawl on the floor like mites
I always heard it as “-tite” because it hangs tight to the ceiling and “-mite” because it might poke you in the ass
Tight to the ceiling and Might grow to the ceiling here!
StalagMITEs MIGHT hang from the ceiling, but they don’t.
stroppy take: Stalactites don’t usually curve and do start out broad and grow down skinny, so really an “m” looks more like stalactites hanging from a ceiling. I’m going to have to forget I ever saw this.
I just remember g for ground and c for cats.
That’s better than the one I learned in school: tits hang.
I’m 46. I can’t tell you hour long it’s been since I heard these terms. They’re completely unimportant outside of a very niche science (but, not entirely useless knowledge).
The stuff about Nutty Putty Cave plummeted my interest in caves to absolute zero (tl;dr caver ends up trapped upside down and his remains are still there and the cave has since closed, real nightmare fuel and not even the only cave it’s happened in).
Hmm I always just remembered it with “T for top”
“When the mites come (your leg), up the tights go down”. -my 1980’s chem teacher
