Are names of chemicals not proper nouns? - English Language Usage . . . Product names which are derived after an inventor's name will often remain capitalized, though not always (e g the petroleum distillate used to power trucks and locomotives is called "diesel" rather than "Diesel" even though it's named after the inventor of the four-stroke compression-ignition engine for which that fuel was formulated)
gerund phrases - English Language Usage Stack Exchange Even with uncountable nouns, for specific instances types, we have nouns preceded by indefinite articles as in the following examples It is cold outside! I could do with a hot tea! The old diesel
Why is the BrE “petrol” called gas in AmE? By the end of the century the gas was derived directly from crude oil and gas oil was renamed Diesel oil (up to 21 carbon atoms per molecule) because its main use was in injection engines petrol vs gasolene gasoline
Throttle is to slow down, but full throttle is max speed? Originally, throttle meant throat So "full-throttle" for a motorized vehicle is like a lion's full-throated roar - the throttle throat is opened as wide as possible (for maximum throughput of fuel or air) It's just that the verb to throttle came to have the meaning choke (fatally cut off someone's air by squeezing their throat), which led to "throttling back" meaning "reduce the fuel supply