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That's a pretty graph. If one continues it in time past 2000, one sees "gauge" begins to tank again in 2001 in popularity while "gage" holds on tight. :) htt

That's a pretty graph. If one continues it in time past 2000, one sees "gauge" begins to tank again in 2001 in popularity while "gage" holds on tight. :) https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=gage%2Cgauge&year_start=1800&year_end=2017&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cgage%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cgauge%3B%2Cc0 https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=gage%2Cgauge&y... Unfortunately, merely counting spellings of the word in books as that graph does isn't sufficient evidence. It fails to account for how the word is used over time. It's fully possible "gauge" as a noun experienced a radical uptick following the Age of the Sail as steam machines were introduced. These usages would obscure the frequency of the "gauge"(verb) vs. "gage"(verb). Nevertheless, the corpus of "gage" merely underscores its acceptability. Even if it's not as popular, it continues to be used to today, as your evidence shows, so it is both correct and not archaic. I value greatly the perspective you've brought, but it's just not aligned with the evidence and facts. If one were to adopt that worldview, one would have to call every less popular option archaic. But would it make sense to say that red is an archaic color for a car, because it's less popular than white and black? https://www.terrapass.com/images/blogposts/car-color-popularity-2.jpg https://www.terrapass.com/images/blogposts/car-color-popular... Finally, with respect to the descriptive usage of language, I will document these entries directly from "the wild" as used by our colleagues on Hacker News, deploying 'gage' in the Larry Wildman sense: 1. "... I'd love to get feedback on and gage interest." https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9410624 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9410624 2. "now I'm trying to gage how crazy it is to devote..." https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7469954 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7469954 3. "Was hoping to gage the interest of any Hn'ers in long island." https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2663638 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2663638 4. "Show HN: Gage- Validate your ideas with user feedback (gage.io)" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8639928 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8639928 5. "...if possible, gage how many Heroku Web Dynos I should add." https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6214062 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6214062

throwanem 10y ago
You're underplaying your hand; the most recent non-nominal instance of "gage" I can find in comment search is https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13118997 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13118997, from a month ago. Your most recent example is a couple of years old. To your point about "gauge" (v.) vs. "gage" (v.), the end of the Age of Sail (ca. 1860) overlaps the rise of steam machinery by a century more or less. If steam drove the difference in usage that chart displays, then we need to explain why that took a hundred years after the advent of steam power to happen. We also need to explain why "gage" (n.) was left behind to the extent that it was. Pedant though I am, my querulousness is not entirely without limit, and I have other things to do today, too. I'll concede "archaic" and soften it to "old-fashioned" if you'll acknowledge the plainly obvious fact that "gage" in this usage is a clear typo, just one of many which existed (and may still exist) on the rather longwinded page under discussion, rather than a deliberate stylistic choice on the part of that page's writer, who does not seem overall to have invested a great deal of close thought into his use of language thereon. Fair?
- chillingeffect 10y ago
  Why not concede "archaic" based on the dictionary alone and confront consensual reality where you have leverage? Even if I had desire to idiosyncratically corrupt "gage"(verb) to "old-fashioned," much of the rest of the English-speaking world would still require persuading they're old-fashioned or stylistic. I'm not up for that. I'll settle having read the dictionaries and considered the evidence presented in order to communicating with the world at large on its terms. Using "gage"(verb), I'll be able to communicate with the prescriptivists and the descriptivists. And apparently the Army. Irregardless, for all intensive porpoises, it's a doggy-dog world. Now excuse me while I kiss this guy.
  - throwanem 10y ago
    > Irregardless, for all intensive porpoises, it's a doggy-dog world. Now excuse me while I kiss this guy. Monster.

throwanem 10y ago

You're underplaying your hand; the most recent non-nominal instance of "gage" I can find in comment search is https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13118997 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13118997, from a month ago. Your most recent example is a couple of years old. To your point about "gauge" (v.) vs. "gage" (v.), the end of the Age of Sail (ca. 1860) overlaps the rise of steam machinery by a century more or less. If steam drove the difference in usage that chart displays, then we need to explain why that took a hundred years after the advent of steam power to happen. We also need to explain why "gage" (n.) was left behind to the extent that it was. Pedant though I am, my querulousness is not entirely without limit, and I have other things to do today, too. I'll concede "archaic" and soften it to "old-fashioned" if you'll acknowledge the plainly obvious fact that "gage" in this usage is a clear typo, just one of many which existed (and may still exist) on the rather longwinded page under discussion, rather than a deliberate stylistic choice on the part of that page's writer, who does not seem overall to have invested a great deal of close thought into his use of language thereon. Fair?

chillingeffect 10y ago
Why not concede "archaic" based on the dictionary alone and confront consensual reality where you have leverage? Even if I had desire to idiosyncratically corrupt "gage"(verb) to "old-fashioned," much of the rest of the English-speaking world would still require persuading they're old-fashioned or stylistic. I'm not up for that. I'll settle having read the dictionaries and considered the evidence presented in order to communicating with the world at large on its terms. Using "gage"(verb), I'll be able to communicate with the prescriptivists and the descriptivists. And apparently the Army. Irregardless, for all intensive porpoises, it's a doggy-dog world. Now excuse me while I kiss this guy.
- throwanem 10y ago
  > Irregardless, for all intensive porpoises, it's a doggy-dog world. Now excuse me while I kiss this guy. Monster.