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Ah, I had this same *fun* argument (oops - I 'meant' discussion) when I
worked for a major airline. Boeing documentation uses 'gage'. I'd
never seen it before, and promptly changed it to gauge. You'd think I'd
told the pilots to crash the planes! They INSISTED it had to be 'gage'
because "that's the way Boeing spells it". Hmmmm. Boeing also uses
"enroute" as 1 word, whereas all my style guides show it as 2...
SO! I finally gave in on 'gage' (much as it made me cringe everytime I
saw it), but stood my ground on 'en route'. It was an acceptable, if
tepid, compromise.
My advice - go with whatever the "industry" uses. In my case, Boeing
used 'gage' so I was kinda stuck, with no definitive direction either
way from my style guides. However, if you've been using 'gauge', it's
certainly correct (I believe 'gage' is considered a 'form' of gauge),
then I'd stick with gauge, again, with no definitive argument either
way.
Clare Turner, Technical Writer
Redflex Traffic Systems, Inc.
15020 N. 74th St.
Scottsdale, AZ 85260
480.607.3583
Boldly go...
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+cturner=redflex -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+cturner=redflex -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
Behalf Of Jackie Samuelson
Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2006 10:17 AM
To: framers -at- FrameUsers -dot- com
Cc: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Gage vs. Gauge
Does anyone have a very specific definition and set of examples that
differentiate GAGE and GAUGE?
We have a debate going on, whereas an engineer has found many examples
of GAGE (in spec books about wire sizing, etc.) but no where can I find
a reference that explicity defines the use of one over the other. Our
standard thus far has been to use "gauge"... But if we can find some
resource that helps to draw the lines between the two, we can opt to use
gage when appropriate.
A web search yielded results that explained that gage can be used to
define metal/wire sizing, and gauge is for more abstract things (like a
measuring tool, or the act of measuring with said tool) but it was a
style thing and not a standard...
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