Yes, why?

Susan, that's a nice, elegant but workmanlike sword. I was expecting maybe something like a Spanish rapier. Although I do admire the workmanship, I've never been able to get into the elaborate Montoya-style basket hilt stuff. It just seems like spun-sugar candy to me. Of course my blade of choice, as I've said, is hardly better than an unshaped ingot of unrefined metal.

I knew metals were easy.

Emily, are you saying that somebody has to know what they're looking for, find miniscule amounts of it in ordinary rock, and then have to chip and hack the ore from rock and smelt to free and purify it before one can fashion things from the metal?

But still--found naturally, as opposed to combined artificially with other things to make alloys, right?

Because metals are elements that easily give up their electrons, so they usually occur in combination with others!

Copper was walking down the street one day when he bumped into Zinc.

"Oh no!" cried Copper. "I think I lost an electron!"

"Are you sure?" said Zinc.

Copper replied, "Yeah, I'm positive!"

Oh. Metallurgic joke. Ah-haha!

For anyone who missed last night's Daily Show, Samantha Bee has a statement to make, with her husband at her side.

It sounds like you can find copper and tin as elemental copper and tin rather than as compounds that contain them. Like iron ore is some compound containing iron that you have to chemically extract the iron from.

Madly in love with Emily right now. And very fond of Polter-Cow.

Bwah! Kathy, thank you for the link. That is priceless.

Susan, that's a nice, elegant but workmanlike sword.

It's a standard French infantry officer's sword from 1803 or so. (My character is English, but he's also not its first owner.) And I liked it for the exact reason you describe--it's graceful and elegant-looking without being overly showy or otherwise impractical.

You guys are so smaht!

Meanwhile, my boss just asked if I'm secretly getting married this weekend, because my nails are so fancy.