View Single Post
  View Parent  #2  
Old July 14th, 2019, 05:48 PM
'Efrem G Mallach' via Dixonary
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Default Re: [Dixonary] Correct US English spelling for gauge

Hugo,

I use "gauge" in U.S. English all the time. If you go to any railroading site (including model railroading), you will find only that spelling used to mean the distance between the two rails. Granted, that's a noun and not a verb, but it's the same general sense of the word.

I've never seen any form of this word used to mean a valuable deposited as a guarantee, but that may be because depositing valuables as guarantees isn't a big part of my world. The only place I recall encountering the spelling "gage" is in the name of a fruit, the gage (or greengage) plum. Google tells me it was named for Sir William Gage, who first brought them to England in the 18th century.

In return for this valuable information, please dust off your Dixonary hat and send me a fake definition of "kilderkin" in the next two hours!

Efrem

> On Jul 14, 2019, at 6:41 PM, Hugo Kornelis <hugo (AT) perFact (DOT) info> wrote:
>
> Hi all!
>
> Just ran into something that confuses me.
>
> I ran a text through a spell checker that was set to US English. It marked "gauge" (used as a verb) as incorrect spelling, and offered "gage" as replacement. I had already noticed that this spellchecker has a rather incomplete dictionary so I wanted to double check. And that's where it gets confusing.
>
> Some sites I found insist that "gauge" is correct spelling, in both British and American, for to measure or estimate the size of something. And that "gage", again in both British and American, means something completely different: a valuable deposited as guarantee.
> But other sites do agree with the interpretation that "gage" is the Ammerican spelling of "gauge" in the measurement / estimation meaning.
>
> I final test, with another spellchecker (the one in MS Word), does accept gauge as correct spelling in US English.
>
> As always when I run into a question on correctness in English vocabulary, grammar, and spelling, I turn to this small group of language addicts. Can anyone here shed some light on this?
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
> Cheers,
> Hugo
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Dixonary" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to dixonary+unsubscribe (AT) googlegroups (DOT) com.
> To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/di...40perFact.info.


--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Dixonary" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to dixonary+unsubscribe (AT) googlegroups (DOT) com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/di...%40verizon.net.
Reply With Quote