obviously. why didn't I think of that?

That's why anemic people sometimes can be seen hovering over the ground, because they have less of it.

explain why the pull is measurably lower at higher altitudes smarty-pants

Strength follows a negative inverse-squared relationship with distance, just like we'd expect from magnetism. But this special magnetism is affecting silver and gold too, not just ferromagnetic materials. Maybe we should give it a special name, to distinguish it from regular types of magnetism?

oh I see. so the pull isn't coming from the surface, it's coming from the mass beneath us. so we've managed to replace an invisible force with another invisible force 😆 very scientific.

Well, you know, Occam's Bludgeon. I think we should use the symbol "g" (lowercase) for this not-magnetism. It still needs a name, though. Maybe it could start with G?

pretty sure theres some old Latin word that means "weight" or "heaviness" that could work ?

buoyancy! no wait, thats not it...

I was thinking "Pondus", but "p" is already overused. So we have to go more figurative. Negotium? Causa? If only there was such a word, but starting with G... How do we translate "seriousness", again?