Our favorite minerals come in many forms and colors and it is fun to collect the variety that is available. But did you ever stop to think how many different spellings there are for your favorite mineral in all the world’s languages? One way to get started on such an investigation is through worldwide postage stamps. Here is an example using the important sulfide mineral from which most of the world’s zinc is resourced. There are certainly more languages than represented by these stamps from 12 countries and ten languages, but they do cover the world!