this post was submitted on 16 Sep 2026
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If you get involved in the technical trades, it gets weird.
A gauge is something with a dial and a needle pointer and a scale printed on it. Something you would be familiar with is a fuel gauge on a car. That's a gauge. It gives you a reading of how much fuel is in your tank. They are mostly round. But linear ones exist, like a tire pressure gauge.
A gage is a physical thing used to measure or compare other things to. For example, I have set of Pin gages. Which are round, very accurately sized pieces of short rods. They are used for checking hole diameters quickly and easily. A gage you might have used could be a spark plug gage to set the gap of the plug for your car or motor bike. As a toolmaker, I've made a LOT of gages over the years. But I've never made a gauge.
Is it esoteric? Why yes, yes it is. But the different words exist because there are those of us that need to differentiate between the two. Should it matter to you? Probably not. So carry on and as you were.
I am in the technical trades. And the things you call 'gages' I, as most people, call 'gauges' too because, unless you're throwing them to challenge someone to a fight like one would do with a glove, they're different spellings of the same word, with 'gage' being way less common.
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Yes, gauge/gage doesn't matter much anymore. But when I went to buy those gage pins and gage blocks, that's how they are named. When people asked me to make go/no go gages, they didn't sent me an email the asking for a go/no gauge. So yes, the words can matter and they STILL get used.
Perhaps for YOU the distinction doesn't matter, but there are times and places it still does. And that's fine.
Look, if you want to spell it 'kerb' when it's on the left side of the street and 'curb' when on the right, you do you mate, I'm not gonna tell you your usage of the English language is wrong. But for most of the world, except a small fraction of Americans, it's 'gauge pins', 'feeler gauges', 'rain gauges'... even in the most specific, technical environments. 'Gage' is so rare that I think I haven't encountered it ever, and if I have I must have thought it was a misspelling, until I read your second post using it and I looked it up in the dictionary from which I learned it's an uncommon spelling of the same word.
I stated that in most cases it does not matter what word you use. But, for some it does matter in specific cases. Gage is a part of my lexicon and I was taught how and when to use the words "gage" and "gauge" by people smarter than both of us put together.
If it's not a part of your lexicon, I fine with that. I'm not the one that appears, (and forgive me if I'm wrong), to take issue here.