Once upon a time what we in the O community refer to as “Gauge” was regularly spelled “Gage”. Does anyone know why? When did “Gauge” become the norm?
Carl
Hmmmm… Here’s my guess.
When train track started being made of solid metal instead of sheet metal.
Gage had been an alternate spelling for gauge whether it had to do with train track (toy or otherwise) or other “measurements” (it was number three on the list, after wage/security and a type of plum).
The one thing that I never understood, is why some folks use “guage” and other “gauge”. Is this just misspelling, or does it have a different meaning?
“Guage” is misspelled.
Simply a misspelling, nothing else. Happens all the time, especially in on-line dialog.
Hello All! Here’s some Trivia for you. In 1934 Lionel Misspelled Gauge on some of the metal nameplates that were fastened on the Fiber Board Pickup Plates on some of their engines around 1934-35. The word “Gauge” was misspelled as “Guage” . The precise number of engines with this misspelling is unknown. However, Most of the engines with the misspelled nameplates are M-10,000s & some Flying Yankees & most likely certain others as well. Take Care all.
So, now we know there is a precedent for “guage”…
Seems curious that we don’t see “gage” nowadays, if it has always been an alternative usage. Just wondering.
Carl