Asimov's next anecdote will come in the August 1961 issue. They are coming more frequently now, but they are not yet used in every essay.
"Some time ago I was asked (by phone) to write an article on the use of radioisotopes in industry. The gentleman doing he asking waxed enthusiastic on the importance of isotopes, but after a while I could stand it no more, for he kept pronouncing it ISS-o-topes, with a very short "i."
Finally, I said, in the most diffident manner I could muster, "EYE-so-topes, sir," giving it a very long "i".
"No, no," he said impatiently, "I'm talking about ISS-o-topes."
And so he did, to the very end, and on subsequent phone calls, too. But I fooled him. I eventually wrote an article about EYE-so-topes.
Yet it left a sore spot, for having agreed to do the article, I was forced to deal with only the practical applications of isotopes, a necessity which saddened me. There is much that is impractical about isotpes that I would like to discuss, and I will do here."
And he goes on to do so.
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